Who was Jesus Christ? Was He God? Was He merely human? Was He some mixture of both?

If He was GOD, then was it impossible for Him to sin? If He was human, could He have sinned?

No subject has proved more controversial over the centuries than that concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. Dozens of “isms” have been documented in ecclesiastical history as various would-be theologians attempted to define the Godhead. Is God a Divine Triumvirate? One in “Three Persons,” each distinct, yet the same? Is Christ a separate Member of the Godhead, subject to the Father, yet “equal” with Him? Has Christ always existed, or was there a time when Christ did not exist? Is He, as some teach, a created Being?

Surely, one would assume the one doctrine all churchmen canagree upon is the truth about Who, and What, Jesus Christ really was, and is. But as surprising as it appears, there is great confusion among religious leaders about the origin and nature of Christ.

Was Jesus Christ merely human?

If He was, then His life could never atone for the sins of theworld. His life could only pay the penalty for one other human being! The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). But since God created all things by, and through, the Divine Member of the Godhead (called the Logos, or “Spokesman,” in the Greek language) Who became Christ; since He was the Maker of man, His death could pay the penalty for all mankind.

How? Simply because, as Divine Creator, His one life is worth more than all the humans who have ever lived.

In order to understand whether it was possible for Christ to sin, we must come to understand just Who and What Christ really was. If He was not truly human, and possessed superhuman powers, then He would not have been subjected to the pulls of human appetites and temptations, human nature. On the other hand, if He was only human, how could the sacrifice of His one life atone for the sins of all mankind?

Was Jesus God?

Your Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“The same was in the beginning with God.

“All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-3). These words are impossible to misunderstand. Whoever is meant by the Logos, or the “Word,” in this passage is obviously at the God plane; for He not only WAS GOD, but He was also “WITH God.”

Immediately we are confronted with the fact that our English word “God” falls short of conveying the true meaning of what is intended.

The first verse in the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” (Genesis 1: 1), and verse 26 reads, “And God said, ‘Let US make man in OUR image…’” Even without understanding the original Hebrew word, Elohim, one can see from the text itself that more than one Person was involved; that Elohim (God) said “Let US”—more than One—”make man.”

Elohim, or Elohiym, as Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance spells the English version of this Hebrew word, is plural. Strong’s shows it is the plural of Eloah, or Eloahh, which means “God.” The word in the first verse of the Bible is a plural word, connoting more than one, like our English words “group,” or “family” or, “pair.”

Now, Who was this who did the creating? Who was it who said, “Let US make man in OUR image?”

John answers, “In the beginning was the WORD, and … all things were made by Him…” He writes, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.

“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not … He [the “Word,” or Logos] was in the world, and the world was MADE BY HIM, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name…” (John 1:1-12).

Is there any doubt in your mind about Whom this is speaking? The Person who came into the world, unto “His own,” was Jesus Christ of Nazareth, born of the Virgin Mary, baptized by John, tempted by Satan, commissioned by the Father to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God unto the Jews. They “received Him not,” but put Him to death! But “as many as received Him,” including Gentiles, and members of all races of the human family down through time……. to them gave He power to become the sons of God…” This is one of Dr. Billy Graham’s most oft-quoted scriptures. He knows, like any other professing Christian teacher, that this scripture is speaking of Christ.

It was He who “came unto His own,” He who “made the worlds”!

Notice some further verses: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

“John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, ‘This was He of Whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me.

“‘And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

“‘For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”‘ (John 1: 14-17).

These striking verses of John’s Gospel, the first chapter, plainly tell us the CREATOR Who is introduced in the first chapter of the Bible is the One of the Godhead called the “Spokesman,” or the “Word,” who BECAME CHRIST in the flesh!

WHY do so many fail to understand this plain, simple, impossible-to-misunderstand text?

Because of all that it obviously implies!

What are, some of the things it implies?

Why, it plainly tells us that the One who wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger was the One who became Christ! It tells us the One who brought the Flood on sinning mankind; Who called Abraham; Who revealed which foods are clean or unclean; established the laws of tithing and giving; Who broke Egypt’s power and brought Israel out of slavery; Who parted the Red Sea; Who inspired His prophets; Who was the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and all the prophets of the Old Testament is the same Personage of the Godhead as Jesus Christ of the New!

But have not millions supposed Christ came on the scene to do away with the harsh, objectionable old laws of the old, out of date, “Father” God of the Old Testament?

Have not millions supposed Christ DID AWAY with all those “Old Testament laws”?

It is no wonder that many reject the plain truth of John the first chapter, and the companion truths revealed in Hebrews 1. For, if they admitted those truths they would have to change their teaching about law; about the Sabbath, the annual holy days, clean and unclean meats; a plethora of doctrine!

Notice further proof: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

“Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by Whom He also made the worlds;

“Who, being the brightness of His glory, and the express image [Greek, karakter] of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:1-3). Who has “purged our sins?” Christ! Who was the exact, express image of the Father, who said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”? Christ! Who is now sitting at the right hand of the “Majesty on high,” waiting until His enemies be made His footstool? Christ! And Who was the Executive Member of the Godhead who created the universe? Christ!

You are reading the truth of God, from the pages of your own Bible. It does not matter that many theologians deny this truth. That is their responsibility, and God will judge them for it. Your responsibility is yours, not theirs. No amount of lame excuses or human reasoning will relieve you of your responsibility before God.

Will you now accept what your own startled eyes are plainly telling you? Jesus Christ of the New Testament is the One who did the creating; the One who wrote the Ten Commandments!

No wonder He said, “Before Abraham was, I AM!”

Jesus, then, was GOD. He was a Member of the great, Divine FAMILY, we call, in our English language, “GOD.” He was One of the ELOHIM of Genesis, the first chapter. Was He also human?

Christ Was Also Human

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Sin is the breaking of God’s Ten Commandments (1 John 3:4). The penalty of sin is the death penalty of a human life! Contrary to popular belief, the wages of sin is not eternal life, though eternal life in an everburning “hell fire”; the wages of sin is death, which is oblivion, destruction—the cessation of life!

Sin requires a penalty. The penalty is death. The penalty must be paid. God will never compromise with His law, which is “holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).

We have learned that Jesus Christ was very God. Yet, He was also human! Notice: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death [the penalty for sins], crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2: 9). Christ was made human. One of the greatest of all reasons for this miraculous fact was that He should “taste death” for every man.

Christ was subject to death. He was a living human being, with muscular, nervous, respiratory, digestive, circulatory systems. His life of about thirty three and one-half years on this earth was sustained by food, water, and air. Notice further: “Forasmuch then as the children [of God] are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy [annul, counterwork, or restrain] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

“And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

“For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.

“Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:9-18).

These verses clearly set forth the humanity of Christ. His genealogies from Adam and the “seed of Abraham,” are contained in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. He was to be like a Branch from the root of Jesse, David’s father (Isaiah 11: 1-5).

That God in the flesh was to appear was made clear to the prophets, and to Israel’s leadership! “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined…For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE.

“Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Eternal [YHVH, or “Yahweh”; Jehovah] will perform this” (Isaiah 9:2-8).

Yes, Jesus Christ was made flesh (John 1: 14; Hebrews 2:17). John wrote, “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God…” (1 John 4:2,3).

How did Christ come in the flesh?

By one of the greatest of all miracles, the Creator of both the macrocosm and the microcosm; Who dwells in eternity; Who lives in a completely different, spiritual dimension, emptiedHimself, and became a tiny, human life—a microscopic, zygote,” to develop into a fetus, to grow into a human baby, in the womb of Mary!

God’s Word says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

“Who, being in the form of God [prior to His human existence], thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

“But made Himself of no reputation [or, “emptied Himself”], and took upon Him the form of a servant [human form!], and was made in the likeness of men:

“And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the stake [Greek: stauros—stake, or upright pale, not “cross”]. Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth;

“And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [Master, Ruler], to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11).

Jesus Christ was very God, Who had become human; Who had become human flesh, of the seed of Abraham, just like you and me, like any other human being.

Christ called Himself not only the Son of God, but the son of MAN repeatedly.

On one occasion, Jesus Christ asked His disciples about the rumors concerning Him. “Who do men say that the Son of man is? And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.’ He said unto them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven”‘ (Matthew 16:13-17).

Thus, Jesus not only called Himself the “Son of man,” but acknowledged He was the “Son of God.” He was both. He is called God in Titus 2: 10 and 2:13.

What Did Jesus Christ Say About Himself?

Did Jesus say He was the Christ, the Son of God? He certainly did. When Jesus encountered a woman of Samaria, she said, “…I know that Messias [the Messiah, or “the Anointed One”] cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things.’

“Jesus saith unto her, ‘I that speak unto thee am He'” (John 4:25,26). He plainly claimed to fulfill the office of the Messiah as described in the Old Testament (Matthew 11:3-5; Luke 4:16-21; 7:19-23). He took upon Himself the names and titles of the Messiah (Luke 19:38-40; Matthew 9:27,28; 21:9).

Jesus claimed He was “greater than Abraham” (John 8:53-56), greater than Moses (Matthew 19:8,9), greater than Solomon or Jonah (Matthew 12:41,42). He continually said He was sent by God to this earth (John 5:36-43), and claimed God was His Father (Luke 2:49). He said He was the “living Bread” sent down from God the Father, in heaven (John 6:32-51), and said He was in existence before Abraham (John 8:58).

Continually, Christ said He was sent by God (John 5:36,37,43), claimed God was His Father, (Luke 2:49, etc.), forgave sin when challenged with the charge that only God can forgive sin (Mark 2:7,10; Luke 5:21,24).

Christ said, “I and my Father are ONE” (John 10:30-36).

Dozens of additional scriptures could be listed from both the Old and New Testaments proving Christ is the ETERNAL Who is revealed in the Old Testament, the Logos Who did the creating; that this Divine Member of the Godhead came down to this earth to tabernacle in human flesh for 33 1/2 years; to become the Savior of His creation.

Christ was, therefore VERY GOD. His life was given in payment for all human life. His death atones for the sins of all mankind!

Christ’s Pre-human Existence

Christ was the “ROCK” of the Old Testament. Paul described how the Exodus from Egypt revealed many spiritual types relating to repentance, baptism, and salvation: “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud [Exodus 13: 21], and all passed through the sea [Exodus 14:22]; and were all baptized [an analogy, or type]; and did all eat the same spiritual meat;

“And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

Christ, in His pre-human form as YHVH, or Yawveh, (or “Jehovah,” as some pronounce the Hebrew word), was the Personage of the Godhead who dealt with the patriarchs, with Moses, with the prophets.

The One who became Christ is called the “ROCK” many times in the Old and New Testament alike.

“He is the ROCK, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He … When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel … of the ROCK that begat thee thou art unmindful, and has forgotten God that formed thee” (Deuteronomy 32:4-18).

David prayed, “I will love Thee, O LORD [YHVH, or Yawveh—the Eternal God], my strength.

“The LORD [YHVH, the Eternal God] IS MY ROCK, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God…I will call upon the LORD [The Eternal God—YHVH]” (Psalm 18:1-3).

David makes it clear that the ROCK of whom Paul wrote, the “ROCK” that was Christ, was also the Eternal GOD to whom David prayed, the One Who was called “YAHVEH” by the ancients; the “Eternal God.”

When Moses talked with this Member of the Godhead, and asked Him His name, He replied, “I AM THAT I AM: and He said, ‘Thus shalt thou say unto the children, I AM hath sent me unto you.’

“And God said moreover unto Moses, ‘Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD [Eternal] God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever and this is my memorial unto all generations” (Exodus 3:14,15).

When Jesus disputed with the Pharisees, He said, “‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.’ Then said the Jews unto Him, ‘Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?’

“Jesus said unto them, ‘Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM'” (John 8:56-58). When Judas betrayed Jesus, He asked the group who had come to arrest Him, “Whom seek ye?”

“They answered Him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus saith unto them ‘I AM”‘ (John 18:4-8). He repeated this expression three times, and the motley group reeled away backward, and fell to the ground! The translators added the italicized word, “He” in this passage, which is not what Jesus said. He said, “I AM.”

The Person of the Godhead who is our REDEEMER is Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Read John 4:42, and Philippians 3:20. Jesus, the Savior, is YAHVEH, the God of the Old Testament (Isaiah 49:7; 60:16).

He is called the “Redeemer” in Isaiah 48:17. The proofs concerning Christ’s pre-human identity are many. Christ was the One who was David’s “Shepherd,” and his “Rock.” He was the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He was the One who said, “Let there be light,” and Who created Adam and Eve!

This great CREATOR, this Logos, or “Executive Spokesman” of the Godhead, “emptied Himself” of His Divine power (Philippians 2:5-8) to become a tiny, microscopic human fetus in the womb of the Virgin Mary!

By a stupendous miracle, God had become human flesh. So says your Bible. Christ was human, yet was God in the flesh.

Then, since He was also God in the flesh, was Christ absolutely impervious to sin? Was it IMPOSSEBLE for Christ to commit sin?

Christ Endured Great Temptations

When a professional athlete is about to enter a tournament, or a special sports contest, what does he or she do? Relax? Vacation? Hardly. We all know that whether we are speaking of a concert pianist or a prizefighter; whether basketball star or football quarterback; whether race car driver or golfer—all practice, practice, practice!

Professionals must WORK at their sports, or their art, to be keyed up, FIT, for special contests!

Each strives for perfection. They practice hard, endure rigorous schedules, watch their diets, exercise, and undergo self analysis, working on their attitudes prior to a great contest in order to avoid disastrous mistakes!

Did Christ slide through 33 1/2 years with great, luxurious ease? For, if it was impossible for Him to sin, then why struggle?

If it were impossible for a professional athlete to make a mistake, then why practice so hard? Athletes practice for fame, career, and money.

Did Christ have to prepare for special temptations?

Just before the beginning of His public ministry, Christ knew a horrible confrontation awaited Him. He was to meet the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4); the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2); that powerful, fallen archangel (Revelation 12:9) who was the most subtle, wily, clever, magnetic, deceptive, influential spirit being this side of heaven: Christ was to come face to face with Satan, the Devil!

Did He treat this impending encounter with a laid back, nonchalance of “ho hum, so what’s the ‘big deal’?” For, if Christ knew it would be impossible for Him to sin, to give in to Satan’s tempting suggestions, then why did Christ fast for 40 days and 40 nights; why did He pray so fervently He exhausted Himself, getting the spiritual help He needed for this encounter?

God’s Word says, “Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward ‘an hungred”‘ (Matthew 4:1,2). This Greek expression, pienao, indicates more than merely, “hungry,” but comes from a root which means “to be famished,” and includes “pining (away), starving.”

The average human will die in about one or two weeks when denied food and water. If panicked, as when lost in the woods, and burning energy and bodily fluids at a rapid pace, death can come much more quickly.

Christ, in this fast, had equaled those of Moses, Elijah, and others—the longest fasts on record in the Bible. He was near starvation. But, while physically weak, He had become imbued with more and more of God’s Holy Spirit; of His Father’s Spirit, Mind, and Will.

Christ called out to the crowds on the Last Great Day following the Feast of Tabernacles, “If any man thirst [a spiritual analogy], let him come unto me, and drink.

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly [his innermost being] shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37,38).

Christ showed how the Spirit of God flows from God, like a current. An incandescent light bulb glows, giving off light, because of a heated filament. The filament becomes white hot because of flowing energy. Notice the socket on your wall. There are always two holes for the plug (sometimes three, for modern plugs which include a “ground” connection for safety). One hole is for the positive flow of electricity, the other for negative. The current does not stop at the bulb, there to be spent—instead, a portion is expended through heating the filament, while the rest returns to its source.

Read Christ’s analogy of the Bridegroom and the foolish virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. Here, the foolish virgins (sleepy, unconcerned “Christians”) find their “lamps” (their “reservoir” of the indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit) are about to flicker out. While they were out, trying to “buy more oil,” the Bridegroom (Christ) arrived, and when the foolish ones cried out to gain entrance, His said, “I know you not.”

God uses the physical elements of this earth, such as fire (as in Acts 2), water (John 3 and 7), and air or wind (Acts 2 and John 3) as representations of God’s Holy Spirit.

Christ, through fasting and prayer, was divesting Himself of physical cares; going well beyond the point of being concerned for material, mundane things; experiencing the indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit like a full tide of flowing, spiritual power.

Why?

Because He knew He would be facing Satan!

I will include, in an inset box, Dr. Bullinger’s appendix 116, entitled “The Temptations Of Our Lord,” from pages 156, 157 of the appendixes in his Companion Bible, in which He convincingly explains that the temptations of Satan probably came repeatedly during the entire 40 days and nights, and not necessarily in only “three” temptations at the very end of the fast.

Obviously, Luke’s and Matthew’s accounts differ in very important aspects. Please read, carefully, the notes at the end  for a fuller understanding.

“And when the tempter [Satan] came to Him, he said, ‘If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread”‘ (Matthew 4:3).

This was a clever, two-pronged temptation. First, Satan probed to see if Christ would respond with anger, to see if there was any human vanity present—for Satan had suggested Jesus Christ was not really Who He said He was! “If you are the Son of God,” Satan subtly suggested.

Christ was now extremely close to God. He had divested Himself of earthly concerns, fasting and praying for 40 days. He very powerfully felt the nearness of God, His Father. He did not allow Satan’s oily suggestions to anger Him.

The second part of this temptation was Satan’s attempt to couple his suggestion of doubt about Christ’s identity and authority with His terrible hunger! By “proving” to Satan Who He was, He could also satisfy His gnawing, painful hunger!

Was Jesus tempted?

That is the whole point of this biblical account Yes, He was tempted. But being tempted did not mean He dwelt on the temptation.

Certainly, the instantaneous mental picture of fresh-baked, savory loaves of bread had to flit through Christ’s mind. But He fought against these temptations—resisted them!

He did not allow His mind to dwell on the subject, did not stare at the large stones, imagining each one as a different kind of succulent bread, perhaps rye, or wheat, or corn, or pastries, or buns, or biscuits, hot and steaming, with butter and jam!

No, He instantly put the mental picture Satan had presented out of His mind and quoted God’s Word.

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”‘ (Matthew 4:4).

This is the first recorded statement of Christ!

It is quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3, where manna was the “bread” that sustained Israel’s life for forty years, as a type of God’s Holy Spirit. The meaning, and the setting of this first spoken teaching of Christ, is vitally important! It forms the very basis of God’s purpose for human life. It shows that our ultimate life—life for all eternity as members of God’s own family—does not depend on the length of time our physical bodies are sustained by “bread,” or food, water, and air. Rather, our future lives depend on whether we hear and obey the Word of God!

Here, Christ quickly shut out of His mind the temporary desire for bread! He forced His mind away from his terrible hunger pangs. Instead, He thought of the beauty, glorious truth, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to be gained through“every word of God.” He thought of the life-giving quality of God’s Word in contrast with the temporary energy gained from physical food.

Now, notice a phenomenal thing! Remember, Satan is the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). The devil was able to destroy Job’s eldest son’s house, in which all his children were eating and drinking (Job 1: 18,19), probably by a sudden and powerful tornado! God allowed Satan to do this.

Now, notice! “Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple…” (Matthew 4:5). Christ was conveyed through the air from the “wilderness” (the Negev), perhaps many, many miles away, to the temple. They did not walk, or ride donkeys or camels! Luke wrote, “And he [Satan] brought Him to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple.”

Thus, Christ allowed Himself to be transported through the air by Satan for the purpose of these temptations.

Satan apparently (see notes at the end) repeated this temptation at least twice! Satan said, “IF [the same attempt to appeal to power, position, authority, vanity] Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written, ‘He shall give His angels charge over Thee: and in their hands shall they bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.”‘

“Jesus said unto him, ‘It is written again, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God'” (Matthew 4:6,7).

Have you ever experienced the momentary compulsion to throw yourself down from a great height, like a tall building? People have related how such a thought occurs to them. Here, Satan was trying to get Christ to tempt God by directly challenging His Word. But Satan twisted God’s Word.

David’s Psalm reads, “For He shall give His angels charge over thee [as guardians], to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11,12). Satan added the phrase, “at any time,” and omitted the middle of the passage! Neither would he quote the following verse, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder…” which refers to treading Satan underfoot.

God’s Word shows angels are the protectors of God’s people “LEST” they should “dash their foot against a stone”—to protect, and prevent accidents; they are not there to snatch up someone who has deliberately tempted God!

Satan perverted, twisted, misquoted God’s Word, and added words of his own!

Christ resisted him again, properly quoting scripture, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Study the notes at the end for a full picture of these many temptations of Christ. As Bullinger shows, there were two different occasions when Christ rebuked Satan. Once He said, “Get thee behind me,” and the second, and final time, He commanded, “GET THEE HENCE, SATAN!” The Devil had to obey Christ’s command.

This was a spiritual battle. Our minds find it difficult to accept, but a mental, spiritual struggle, a clashing of will can leave one utterly weak, and exhausted.

Notice what happened immediately after the devil had to slink away in defeat: “Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered to HIm” (Matthew 4: 11). Christ was utterly exhausted. He was near death from lack of food and water and from the grueling consequences of this titanic clash of will. Did the angels provide water, a sponge bath, food? It is certainly implied in the statement that they “ministered” unto Him.

Anyone who foolishly believes Christ nonchalantly underwent this climactic battle for control of all humankind, this battle over who was qualified to be world ruler, is either simply ignorant, or terribly deceived! It was POSSIBLE for Christ to have failed. The fact that He fasted for 40 days proves the depth of His concern, the determination of His mind, the force of His resolve that He not fail!

Like the professional athlete facing a championship, Christ prepared to meet Satan!

Jesus Christ has placed eternity as very God at risk! It was only through the most grueling, intensive prayer, hours and hours of prayer—weeks of fasting—that Christ overcame all these temptations; even though allowing Himself to be transported about in the air by the devil, to the temple, to a high mountain, He nevertheless resisted Satan, and conquered him by the power of God’s Spirit!

There are differing degrees of temptations, just as Satan is more powerful than any of his demons. The Bible reveals there are more tenacious demons, which require more spiritual power to resist.

When Christ commissioned His disciples, He gave them power over demonic spirits (Matthew 10: 1-8). They returned joyfully, exclaiming over how demons had obeyed them, and left their grip on people’s lives. Yet, a little later, when those same disciples attempted to cast some of Satan’s demons out, they failed.

“And when they were come to the multitude, there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him, and saying,

“Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is ‘lunatik’ [an old English word based on fable, meaning “moonstruck,” which is an erroneous translation], and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

“And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

“Then Jesus answered and said, ‘O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

“And Jesus rebuked the devil [demon]; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

“Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, ‘Why could not we cast him out?’

“And Jesus said unto them, ‘Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

“Howbeit this kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:14-21).

Christ was Human, just like the disciples were human. The disciples, however, had allowed their faith to wane; they had not been fasting and praying enough! They were not as close to God; did not have as much of His power, His Holy Spirit, flowing through them like spiritual energy, as did Christ. Christ had been fasting and praying! He was imbued, “without measure,” with God’s Holy Spirit. But He had to continually struggle to maintain this spiritual closeness with God.

Could Christ Have Been Tempted to Sin?

God’s Word says Christ was sorely tempted to sin. “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

“For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points TEMPTED like as we are, yet without sin.

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

The only difference between Christ’s temptations and our own is that He was “yet without sin”! Otherwise, our temptations are the same as Christ’s. Study that scripture carefully. It shows us our High Priest in heaven can be touched (moved, concerned—having empathy) with the feelings we experience as we struggle against Satan’s world, against our own human natures, against the myriad temptations that surround us.

Do we ever want something so bad we can hardly stand it, yet know that it would be wrong? Do we FEEL such a temptation? Does it set up an inner conflict—produce a struggle within us?

Are we prone to feel hatred for others? Do we wrestle with feelings of jealousy, envy, anger, greed, or lust?

Do we sometimes come to the “end of our rope,” crying out to God, “I can’t take this any more”? Did Christ ever come perilously close to the “end of the rope” in His earthly struggles?

Christ was tempted. Therefore, He experienced desire in many directions, which, if He had followed those temptations to their ultimate conclusion in either thought or deed, He would have committed sin! But He overcame each temptation as it occurred! Did He do so easily, like a champion weightlifter, picking up a mere 20 pound weight?

No, the Bible shows Christ had to WRESTLE with His own inclinations, that He had to STRUGGLE to overcome temptation!

Tempted Like as We Are

The book of Hebrews was written to convince Jewish Christians of the efficacy of the Priesthood of Christ. It goes deeply into the Levitical priesthood, the types of the priest in the temple, and the far greater and eternal Priesthood into which Christ has entered.

What Paul is showing in the fourth and fifth chapters is how we may approach the “throne of grace” in heaven BOLDLY, having faith to know our prayers are heard as we wrestle with the same kinds of temptations Christ endured, and overcame. God wants us to know that Christ knows how we feel!

God says Christ was tempted “in all points … like as we are” Hebrews 4:15). The Greek word for “tempted” is peirazo, which comes from peiro, meaning, “to pierce through,” or “to test.” Some have twisted the meaning of this expression, abandoning the obvious implication of stress—a torturous, near violent meaning of “to pierce through” like “to be stricken,” or to hurt—in favor of merely “testing,” as if Christ’s testing were not rigorous, or that it required a real struggle!

This is patently ridiculous in the context of Christ’s 40-day fast. Why undergo such pain-wracked suffering if He were to toss off His encounter with Satan with consummate ease?

No, Christ suffered through His temptations! He felt them. And He therefore knows how we feel!

Now, how are we tempted?

From earliest childhood, our human natures held sway over our minds. We grow physically first, then mentally, and finally emotionally—perhaps! From childhood, we give in to our impulses, our appetites. When hungry at age 6 weeks, we cried. When we were wet, or uncomfortable, or frustrated, our crying took on new and more strident notes. Mothers and fathers soon learn when their tiny progeny are angry, or feeling self pity (watching those little lower lips curl up and turn down at the edges as their child sobs can tug at your heart!), or are tired, or frustrated.

As we grow, it is extremely rare if someone teaches us how not to envy, or to be jealous, or to have resentment; how not to be greedy, or engage in acts of violence.

Carnal human nature, apart from God’s Holy Spirit, is a collection of selfishness, vanity, jealousy, lust and greed! These are the motives that drive people to “success” in corporate business and private entrepreneurship, to “success” in the military, or politics.

The most powerful human emotions, it has been said, and written about interminably, are love and hate. Thousands of plays, books, and movies have illustrated such themes. Vengeance, lust, vanity, jealousy, love [usually lust, which Hollywood thinks is love], hatred—these powerful emotions form the basis for much of the world’s entertainment.

The “soaps” on TV are a continual merry-go-round of secret desires, betrayals, jealousies, hatreds, lusts, love triangles, homosexuality (and therefore illicit, perverted lust), mental and emotional struggles. This is why so many millions of frustrated people revel in such trash—they enjoy watching others act out the real or imagined fantasies of their own lives.

The reason so many hundreds of “country western” songs are based on “You done left me fer another” is because this is the way so many people live their lives, including most of the country western singers! (Not long after Tammy Wynette came out with her famous hit single, “Stand By Your Man,” she divorced George Jones!)

The movies, TV, books, magazines, plays—practically everything that passes for “entertainment” is geared to the down side of human nature. It appeals to the prurient, the illicit, the illegal, or the libidinous.

When we become converted; when we TURN AWAY from a life of sin (to be converted means to be changed; Romans 12:1,2), we find we have a struggle on our hands.

This world is filled with the Satanic enticements of sin, with churches which are abandoning God’s Word in favor or the changing mores of human conduct, ordaining lesbians and sodomites into the clergy, allowing premarital sex, “live-in” relationships, same-sex “marriages.” Perhaps it is cynicism to observe that it is only a matter of time until some pervert leads a horse down the aisle of one of these churches.

Today, even churchmen seem to be saying, “If it feels good, do it.” In a drug-infested, sex-mad, chaotic society of licenteousness and pleasure-seeking, it is a real struggle for a converted Christian to overcome temptation!

Abraham’s children could not see nude women exposing themselves on centerfolds in magazines available in practically any grocery store! Children in the time of Christ could not go to movies and watch lovemaking scenes. Children in Daniel’s day had not sat in front of television for more hours than they would ever spend in formal education, watching garrotings, stabbings, bludgeonings, rape, arson, shootings, dismemberments, sex orgies, explosions, or chain saws slashing through human flesh—all in the name of “entertainment”

People’s minds had not been quite so polluted then.

Jesus Christ’s temptations were real to Him. They ran the gamut of all human appetites. Could not Christ have looked upon the lovely young women of His time, and momentarily experienced the thought of desire toward them? Either He did, or no normal heterosexual male has a Savior! But Christ did not lust for them! He could admire beauty without thinking illicit thoughts.

God’s Word is not implying that Christ experienced every minute little temptation that might be around us today. Rather, it is showing that Christ was tempted in every category of human appetite, every category of human nature.

He was tempted to allow vanity, or jealousy, or lust, or greed to enter in. But through God’s Holy Spirit He overcame those temptations.

Christ never smoked. Yet, He could experience temptations having to do with appetite. Smoking is a sin. Smoking is also an addiction. The body becomes dependent upon nicotine once a person has struggled to force himself or herself to ingest choking clouds of pollution into the lungs, and is finally hooked on cigarette smoke. From that time on, the body and its appetites are dictating to the mind and the will what shall be done.

The mind is no longer in control. The bodily appetites have taken over.

Christ was tempted by the senses of smell, taste, touch, and the like. Surely He was mightily tempted to crave food tempted to lust for it, when He fasted 40 days! Were not there dozens of times when the vision of a savory lamb roast, or a delicious stew, or some fresh fruits or crisp vegetables, even a crystal clear glass of water, tormented His thoughts?

But, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, He forced such thoughts from His mind, turning, instead, to prayer. Had He allowed His mind to give in to the temptation to dwell on food; spending long moments imagining just how certain things would taste, He might have broken His fast, and then He might have failed when He locked minds and wills with the most powerful spirit being this side of heaven!

But Christ overcame temptation!

He overcame it by a struggle—by literally suffering!

God says, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.

“Let no man say when He is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God [God in heaven, in His Divine state—not Christ during His earthly experience] cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.

“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

“Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1: 11-15).

God the Father in His flawless perfection CANNOT BE TEMPTED!

But Christ, in His human state was “tempted in every point like as we are” so He could qualify to become our High Priest; so He could suffer, struggle, agonize, and endure the inner conflicts of human nature; so He could overcome temptations, and prove it is possible for a human being, filled with God’s Spirit, to resist sin!

God says we are blessed when we endure temptation!

Those who have experienced the fight against smoking, and who have overcome it; who have struggled against alcoholism, and have beat it; who have wrestled against lust, and conquered it, are “blessed,” and shall receive “the crown of life.”

Is it horribly wrong to be tempted?

According to some, whose values are not those of God, it would so appear. There are those who, knowing a spouse could be tempted to break the commandment against coveting one’s neighbor’s wife (or husband), would be blindly furious at a mate simply because there might be a temptation! Such would not call a person “blessed” who had wrestled with, and overcome temptation, but would be horribly angry, instead!

Not our Savior. Not Christ. Instead, He would look down kindly from His place at the right hand of God and say, figuratively, “I know how you feel. I know what you endured. I know what you just overcame.” He would turn to His Father, and ask forgiveness for such an one, would give strength to such a person through the supply of God’s Holy Spirit.

How Difficult was Christ’s Struggle?

Those who teach the heresy that it was impossible for Christ to commit sin are denying some of the most important scriptures in the Bible. Worse, they are denying their own Savior, for they are denying His traumatic struggles in His human form! They are denying the humanity of Christ.

John warned, “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh [they do not confess His humanity, with its attendant pulls and tugs of human nature, with its weaknesses, its potential for failure, its struggles, pains, sufferings]. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. “Look to yourselves [heretics who deny Christ’s sufferings, take heed!], that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ [this is the whole truth about Jesus Christ—What and Who He was, what He did, His human sufferings!], hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

“If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive Him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed” (2 John 7-10).

John felt this deeply, for He was the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” the disciple who was so moved by Jesus’ passion that he leaned on His breast at the Last Supper. John alone seemed to have been deeply aware of the feelings of rejection, the loneliness, the near anxiety of Christ as He contemplated what awaited Him that horrible night of His sufferings just before His death.

Now, notice some extremely important facts about Christ’s lonely sacrifice: “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Eternal [YHVH] revealed?

“For He shall grow up before Him [Christ, as a baby, then a boy, then a man, in the sight of His Father in heaven] as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground [the faithless generation and religious leaders of His day]: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of [which procured] our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity [sin] of us all.

“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth” (Isaiah 53: 1-7).

Notice! God says Christ was DESPISED!

Have you ever been despised? Does it hurt to know someone absolutely hates you? What if someone you love becomes filled with hatred toward you? Does that hurt?

Jesus Christ was flawlessly perfect. He was of perfect character, perfect conduct. There was no reason for any person to have any emotion toward Christ except admiration, approval, love, worship!

Yet, in spite of His perfection, He was despised by the scribes and Pharisees, despised by his own near kin, despised by countless hundreds and thousands! You and I know how it hurts to be hated! Christ, too, hurt under these rancorous, venomous, spiteful hatreds of people. He suffered greatly under it!

God says He was “rejected of men…” Have you ever been rejected?

Divorce is rejection! In such a terrible, sinful occurrence, two people who once experienced the most wondrous, romantic, expectant, exciting, loving emotions—who grew close in marriage, experiencing the deepest and most fulfilling intimacies of married love; two people who said, over and over again, “I love you,” who made up little words of endearment to use for each other, have now become hateful, spiteful, contemptuous, distant, reproachful, angry, cold and aloof. Now, they REJECT their mate!

Does divorce HURT?

You KNOW IT DOES! Many reading this, divorced or not, have experienced rejection! I was rejected by my own father, charged with doing things I simply did not do, and denied access to him for the next eight years—never given the opportunity to see him personally, or even so much as talk to him on the telephone. He died, never having permitted me to see him. That is rejection! And I can tell you, it HURT!

Christ was a “man of sorrows. Were these “fake” emotions? Nonsense! Sorrow is painful. It is disappointment, failure, emptiness, loss, sadness! It is an emotion of pain! Christ experienced these feelings of rejection, of denial, of loss and sorrow, so that He can help us in our time of rejection, pain, and loss! He is our High Priest for daily trials and troubles, not only our Savior Who paid the penalty for our sins!

God says, “Surely He hath borne our grief.” Is grief real? Did Christ feel the pain of sorrow, and grief?

We know Jesus wept. Did He “fake” it? For, if heretics who teach Christ could not have sinned are correct, then there was simply no need for Christ to ever have been concerned—He could have sailed through His physical experiences knowing He could never make a mistake, knowing He had nothing to lose!

Jesus Christ cried. He groaned with pain. He was deeply sorrowful. He felt, deeply, the rejection of His own beloved people. He suffered!

How utterly shocking to see there are those who are now denying the sufferings of Christ! And how plain it is that if they do so, they deny Christ!

Your Savior and mine risked it all for us!

God says, “Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be madelike unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

“For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor [help, comfort] them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:17,18). God says our Savior overcame through pain and suffering, through trial and temptation; that He offered up “strong cryings and tears” as He struggled against Satan, against human nature, against the world around Him!

“But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

“For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS” (Hebrews 2:9,10).

Finally, rejoice in these rich, blessed words: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

“For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched [moved, made compassionate] with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin!

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Thank God it was possible for Christ to sin! Glory, honor, praise, awe, admiration, and WORSHIP to Him, praise to His Holy Name, that He DID NOT!

NOTES

From The Companion Bible, Appendix 116:

THE TEMPTATIONS OF OUR LORD

It is well known that the order of the temptations in Matthew is not the same as in Luke. Commentators and Harmonizers assume that one is right and the other is wrong; and proceed to change the order of one in order to make it agree with the other…

But an examination of the combined accounts, giving due weight to the words and expressions used, will explain all the differences, and show that both Gospels are absolutely correct; while the differences are caused by the three temptations being repeated by the devil in a different order, thus making six instead of three.

Mark and Luke agree in stating that the temptations continued all the forty days (Mark 1: 13, Luke 4:2); they are described as follows:

I. (Luke 4:3, 4) “The devil (ho diabolos) said to Him, ‘Speak to this stone (to litho touto) that it become a loaf (artos).’ “This appears to be the firsttemptation: and there is no reason whatever why it should not have been repeated in another form; for it is nowhere stated that there were three, and only three temptations.

II. (Luke 4:5-8) “And the devil, conducting (anagagon) Him, shewed to Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world, or land (Gr. oikoumene), in a moment of time.” Nothing is said about “an exceeding high mountain.” Lachmann brackets the words “into an high mountain,” and Tischendorff, Tregelles, Alford, WH, and R.V. omit them.

The devil claims to possess the right to the kingdoms of the world, and the Lord does not dispute it. Satan says: “To Thee will I give this authority (exousia) and all their glory, for to me it has been delivered, and to whomsoever I wish I give it. Therefore, if Thou wilt worship before me, all shall be Thine.”

Nothing is said here about “falling down,” as in Matthew. Here, only “authority” is offered, for all the critical Greek texts read “pasa“ (not “panta”) fem. to agree with exousia.

The Lord did not say, “Get thee hence” (as in Matt. 4: 10), but “Get thee behind Me,” which was a very different thing. Satan did not depart then, any more than Peter did when the same was said to him (Matt 16:23).

III. (Luke 4:9-12) “And he conducted (egagen) Him to Jerusalem, and set Him upon the wing (or battlement, Dan. 9:27m.) of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If Thou art the Son of God, cast Thyself down hence, for it is written, that to His angels He will give charge concerning ‘Thee, to keep Thee (tou diaphulaxai se),'” &c.

There is nothing said about this “keeping thee” in Matthew; moreover, it is stated that having finished every form of temptation, “he departed from Him for a season.” Note that the devil departed (apeste) of his own accord in Luke 4:13, while in Matthew the Lord summarily dismissed him, and commanded him to be gone (Matt. 4:10).

IV. (Matt. 4:3, 4) After the “season” (referred to in Luke 4:13), and on another occasion therefore, “he who was tempting Him (ho peirazon), having come (proselthon), said, “If Thou art the Son of God, say that these stones become loaves (artoi).” Not “this stone,’ or “a loaf” (artos), as in Luke 4:3. Moreover he is not plainly called “the devil,” as in Luke 4:3, but is spoken of as the one who had already been named as tempting Him (ho peirazon); and as “having come” (proselthon): not as simply speaking as being then present.

V. (Matt. 4:5-7) “Then (tote)’!—in strict succession to the preceding temptation of the “stones” and the “loaves”—”Then the devil taketh(paralambanei) Him unto the holy city, and setteth Him upon the wing (or battlement) of the temple,” &c. Nothing is said here about the angels being charged to “keep” Him (as in Luke 4: 10); nor is there any reason why any of these three forms of temptation should not have been repeated, under other circumstances and conditions.

VI. (Matt. 4:8-10) Here it is plainly stated that the second temptation (Luke 4:5-8) was repeated: for “Again the devil taketh Him unto an exceedingly high mountain, and sheweth to Him all the kingdoms of the world, kosmos, not oikoumene, as in Luke 4:5, and their glory, and said to Him: “All these things, not “all this authority,” as in Luke 4:6, will I give to thee if, falling down, thou wilt worship me.” Here, in this last temptation, the climax is reached. It was direct worship. Nothing is said in Luke about falling down. Here it is boldly and plainly said, “Worship me.” This was the crisis. There was no departing of Satan’s own accord here. The moment had come to end all these temptations by the Lord Himself. “Go! said the Lord (hupage), Get thee hence, Satan… Then the devil leaveth (aphiesin) Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered to Mm.”

This angelic ministry marked the end. There is no such ministry mentioned at the end of the third temptation in Luke 4:3-12; for then Satan “departed” of his own accord, returning (in Matt. 4:3) after “a season” (Luke 4:13).

True, the Lord had said “Get thee behind Me, Satan” (Luke 4:8); but He did not, then, summarily dismiss him, nor did Satan depart: he continued with his third temptation, not departing till after the third had been completed.

We thus conclude that, while there were temptations continuous during the whole of the forty days (Mark 1: 13, Luke 4:2), they culminated in six direct assaults on the Son of man, in three different forms; each form being repeated on two separate occasions, and under different circumstances, but not in the same order.

This accords with all the variations of the words used, explains the different order of events in the two Gospels, and satisfies all the conditions demanded by the sacred text.

The two different orders in Matthew and Luke do not arise from a “mistake” in one or the other, so that one may be considered correct and the other incorrect; they arise from the punctilious accuracy of the Divine record in describing the true and correct order in which Satan varied the six temptations; for which variation, he alone, and neither of the Evangelists, is responsible.

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Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you.” How many times have you heard it? The lilting little ditty that is sung as a congratulatory song on the occasion of the anniversary of one’s birth is heard continually in restaurants as serving personnel gather around a table carrying a small cake with candles, briefly interrupt everyone else’s meal and depart amid a smattering of applause

Who has not seen the shy, smiling face of a child presented with a single scoop of ice cream and a lighted candle light up with barely suppressed glee when his parents wish him a happy birthday in a restaurant?
But where did the custom originate?

Are its roots buried in pagan antiquity? Is it another deception Of SATAN, who seeks to delude sincere people into believing in and accepting the practices of this world which block out of their minds the customs and practices enjoined by the Creator God in the Bible?

The Earliest Birthdays

Have you ever researched the subject of “birthdays”? Few have. If you do, be prepared for a surprise. Very little is available outside of Bible encyclopedias!

Naturally, customs vary widely from culture to culture. Birthdays are not celebrated in the same way universally. The Bible history books and encyclopedias invariably refer you to the most ancient birthday celebration of which there is mention, that of one of the Pharaohs of Egypt, during Joseph’s time.

The account is found in Genesis the 40th chapter.

Two of Pharaoh’s personal servants had incurred his wrath in some way—both had been thrown in prison, where they encountered Joseph, who had been railroaded into prison by the wife of Potiphar, whose advances Joseph had spurned (chapter 39).

Both had a disturbing dream.

Notice the account:

“And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.

“And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold a vine was before me:
“And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:

“And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.

“And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:

“Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.

“But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:

“For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

“When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:

“And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head..

“And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof. The three baskets are three days:

“Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

“And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the  head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.

“And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand:
“But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.
“Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.”

A birthday of a king, prince or ruler was viewed as an occasion of state. Some scholars had assumed the custom was only found among Persian kings, but the famous “Rosetta Stone,” a trilingual archaeological find unearthed in Egypt, which led to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics, mentions birthdays in a decree concerning the observance of a birthday feast for Ptolemy Epiphanes (one of the later, lesser kings of Egypt).

In Genesis 41, you see that two full years passed before the butler remembered his promise to Joseph. Pharaoh had a vivid dream, called all his counselors, and wanted to know the interpretation. The butler heard of it (verses 8, 9) and informed Pharaoh of Joseph’s plight in prison.

Joseph interpreted the dream informing Pharaoh it was from God, and not from man (verse 16) and was appointed virtual ruler of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself.

Read the following chapters—the moving account of how God used the occasion of Pharaoh’s birthday celebration to spare the butler—who remembered Joseph—who was used to save Egypt from famine which saved the family of Jacob and all of Joseph’s brothers—which resulted in the birth of a great nation which was born out of captivity, sent into Sinai, and then into the promised land!

It has been suggested that, since the baker was hanged, the occasion of Pharaoh’s birthday was an EVIL event. Linking this with the only other mention of a “birthday” celebration, that of Herod during Christ’s time, a case has been made against birthday celebration. The reasoning is as follows:

“Since ‘birthdays’ are only mentioned twice in the whole Bible—and since both are in connection with PAGAN kings, and since, on each occasion, a death (murder) occurred, it is obvious birthdays appear in a pagan, EVIL context in the Bible, and are to be avoided by Christians.”

But is this really a fair understanding of these events?

“Read all of Genesis 39 through 50! You will come to see that the Pharaoh of that time was quite an understanding, generous man—that he provided the family of Joseph with protection; with plenty of land (Goshen), and that the Egyptian people made great mourning for Jacob (Israel) when he died (Genesis 50:3, 4).

It is extremely unfair to link the birthday celebration of Pharaoh only with death. Remember, the butler was spared: One live was saved. One life was lost! But wait! The sparing of the butler’s life led to the sparing of Joseph’s life—which led to the sparing of the WHOLE FAMILY OF ISRAEL, AND THE BIRTH OF GOD’S OWN NATION!

This was all as a direct result of God’s gift to Joseph of the interpretation of dreams. The argument that a great deliverance—a great and generous saving and preserving of life—occurred as a result of Pharaoh’s birthday celebration is actually a stronger argument than the negative reasoning that, since a death occurred, the occasion of birthday celebration is pagan, and should be avoided: One life lost, countless lives saved.

But what about Herod’s birthday?

Turn to and read all of Matthew 14:1-13.

Herod, befuddled with wine, became obsessed with lust over Salome, following her sensuous dance. Notice that he “would have put him to death” (John the Baptist) much earlier, but “…feared the multitude” (Matthew 14:5).

This is an important point, for it renders entirely incidental and coincidental the events that transpired on his birthday.

Herod had already plotted to murder John. It remained for him to bolster his courage, and find some excuse or other with which to allay the anger of the people, who looked to John as a prophet.

Herodias was not unaware, no doubt, of Herod’s attraction to her daughter, Salome. The mother and daughter plotted to play upon Herod’s lust, and his wine-induced magnanimity, to kill John.

Was Herodias secretly hoping the masses would be so incensed it would result in Herod’s overthrow or murder—In order to punish him for his lustful attitude toward her daughter? The account does not say, but it is instructive to notice Herod promised Salome “up to half the kingdom” (Mark 6:23).

Was this merely a form of speech, or was Herod so infatuated he was hinting to the girl she would replace her mother?

Mark’s account adds details not included by Matthew (Mark 6:16-29), showing that Herodias was far more the instigator of John’s murder than Herod.

Herod’s birthday was completely incidental, providing merely an opportunity for Herodias’ plan. Note that the celebration of Herod’s birthday is explained as a generous gesture on his part—that OF GIVING a party for others, not “having” a party for himself. “And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to [for] his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee . . .” (Mark 6:21).

Historical evidence firmly proves that birthday celebrations among rulers were universally used as a time for magnanimity; for generosity—even for the release of prisoners (as in the case of the butler, and, later, Joseph), rather than as a time for death, or murder.

If the strongest “proof” that birthday celebration is “wrong” is the argument that a death took place on that day—then WHY DO CHRISTIANS OBSERVE THE PASSOVER—The “LORD’S SUPPER”—THE OCCASION OF CHRIST’S DEATH?

The “Birthday” of Jesus Christ

The “greatest” Christian holiday is “Christmas,” which allegedly celebrates the birthday of Jesus Christ. The real truth about Christmas will SHOCK YOU. It long antedates Christianity; the origin of all its accoutrements and trappings, including Santa Claus, reindeer, the yule log, the holly wreath, Christmas trees and ornaments are entirely pagan. For years, God’s church has shown the world the real truth about God’s annual Holy Days as opposed to the purely pagan days revered by the Christian-professing world such as Christmas, Easter, St. Valentine’s Day, New Year’s and others.

Could it be, however, in the sincere and zealous attempt to prove the pagan origins of Christmas that some have, unintentionally, tended to minimize the greatness of the EVENT of Christ’s birth?

Remember, Christ had a “birthday”! That is, there was a day on which Christ was born!

Can anyone read the Bible accounts without coming to the realization that this was a STUPENDOUS event in heaven and on earth? Perhaps too many have glossed over these portions of Scripture, turning from them with the barest reading and little appreciation, because of oft-repeated maudlin sentimentality connected with the commercialized “Christmas season.”

Read Matthew’s first two chapters; Luke’s first two chapters; and the many prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus Christ!

The Bible shows myriad’s of angels rejoicing in heaven, shouting out their joyous announcement that the Savior of all mankind was born! They said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among men of good will” (as the original should read) (Luke 2:14).

God caused the Magi, perhaps representative of a mystic sect of Persia (some speculate they were students of Zoroaster) to come and do obeisance before the babe, Jesus Christ, perhaps thus symbolizing that all classes, all peoples, all races, and even the religions of this world had to acknowledge that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was truly the very Son of God!

There is still a good bit of mystery surrounding the purpose of the visit of the Magi, but it is obvious that whoever they were they came a long distance to acknowledge Jesus as King!

Think of it!

Mary was informed by a great angel she would become the mother of Jesus Christ. Zecharias’ dumbness, the “magnificat of Mary,” the rejoicing of the angels, the visit of the Magi (there may have been 12, 20 or more than 100—the Bible does not specify three), the visit of the shepherds, plus rejoicing in heaven above, all give testimony to the greatness of the EVENT of Christ’s birth!

Even though the exact date of Jesus’ birth is carefully obscured, two of the Gospel writers go into great detail about the utter magnificence of the EVENT! Let’s face it: The fact of the birth of your Savior is one of the most important central facts for your eternal life! For, if Jesus Christ had not come into the flesh as a human being, born of the virgin Mary in a manger in Bethlehem, you would have NO SAVIOR!

God nowhere commands us to celebrate the date of Jesus’ birth! Rather, the Bible is silent on this point.

Certainly, however, the Bible gives us the picture of great rejoicing in heaven; the details of the angelic announcement to Mary; the visit of the Magi and the shepherds in order that we can profoundly rejoice in, and appreciate the fact of, Jesus’ birth—the momentous event in history when VERY CREATOR GOD life was born as HUMAN life! Surely this will always be the GREATEST “day of birth,” or “birthday,” IN ALL HISTORY

Is it wrong to celebrate birth? Is it wrong to celebrate LIFE? What about the birth of a future KING? What about the birth of the future KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS?

One thing is sure. The angels greatly rejoiced!

Notice! “And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you GOOD TIDINGS Of GREAT JOY, which shall be to ALL PEOPLE.

“‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’

“And suddenly there was with the angel A MULTITUDE OF THE HEAVENLY HOST, praising God, and saying, GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH, PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN [among men of good will: margin]” (Luke 2:10-14).

Obviously, the angelic hosts in God’s own heaven were rejoicing—celebrating—this greatest of all human births.
Does this imply Christians should have large, lavish “birthday parties”?

Of course not! It does not relate at all to human practices and customs.

The Bible neither enjoins birthday celebrations upon Christians, NOR does it condemn them!

There is no such thing as even a veiled reference to Jesus Christ condemning social and cultural customs such as certain banquets and festivals on important occasions. Rather, the first miracle of Jesus is performed in the context of supplying additional wine for a great “wedding feast” at Cana, in Galilee!

Jesus, by His presence at this feast (it may well have been the marriage of a close family member, and Mary may have been involved in its preparation), distinctly shows it is perfectly acceptable for Christians to take part in such social customs.

Surely it is not wrong to give gifts! No Christian believes it “wrong” to give a gift to his or her children, husband or wife, loved ones or friends, or, for that matter, completely unknown poor people.

The occasions for such gift—giving? Perhaps one of God’s annual Holy Days, such as the Feast of Tabernacles (a good time to give your children a gift!). Perhaps at the beginning of school; on one’s anniversary, at a wedding or a baby shower, a “going-away” present, or when one moves into a new home.

WHY, if all of these occasions are perfectly “right” and “Christian” occasions to give a gift, is it taboo, and viewed by some as a SIN, to give your child a gift on the anniversary of a certain number of years of life?

As we have explained for years, the wise men, when arriving at the bedside of Jesus Christ, gave to Christ their gifts! Simply because there were three categories of gifts given—frankincense, gold and myrrh—many have assumed there were only three wise men. Not so. There may have been many more than that, or there could have been only two.

However, it is obvious they gave gifts OF GREAT value!

One could argue until he is blue in the face that these were “Persians,” and therefore pagan! They may even try to distort and twist the Bible to the point they deny that the family of Jesus used the valuable gifts for His clothing, education or their own personal needs.

But this would, in fact, be twisting and wresting of the Scriptures—would be utter nonsense—and would deliberately ignore the FACT that on the occasion (it could easily have been one year after His birth) of Jesus’ birth, gifts of great value were given!

There is a familiar argument that, since Jesus was a KING, and since it is “custom” never to appear in the presence of a king without a gift, the Magi brought gifts!

However, this is not merely a casual visit to a king at any month, during any season, or on any day. It was the fact and occasion of His birth! No amount of reasoning can do away with the fact that these gifts were BIRTHDAY GIFTS!

Remembered Family Examples

One of the biggest birthday parties I ever attended was one arranged and paid for by my father, Mr. Herbert W Armstrong. It was on the occasion of my grandmother’s 80th birthday. “Grandma” was born the year after President Lincoln was shot. She had lived from 1866 to 1946; an age that saw the invention of the automobile, the invention of the airplane and the beginning of the atomic age!

Grandma had never been inside an airplane. In order to bring her to Portland, Ore., to the home of my aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Don Edmundson, my father paid for her airline ticket aboard a Douglas DC-3.

My sister and I still have motion picture footage of that birthday party; virtually all her living children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were present—there was a big cake with plenty of candles, gifts, a big banquet-type meal, games in the backyard, much picture taking, and of course a lot of love, affection and congratulations toward Grandma, who was now an octogenarian!

As I was a growing young boy, I was always wished a “happy birthday,” and little gifts were given me. Nothing elaborate or expensive ever fell my lot; we were a very poor family, living in the midst of the Depression. However, my mother would prepare a special dish, or perhaps present me with a piece of cake or ice cream on my birthday.

The family never “celebrated” birthdays as a family; we never “threw a birthday party” for one another, or invited outside guests—the only “birthday parties” I ever attended of this nature were, as I said, that of my grandmother, or that of other school friends. However, through all the early years of God’s Work “birthdays” were certainly not viewed as “pagan.”

On the day I was 21, my father and mother, my brother, Richard David, my sister Dottie and her husband, Vern, all drove from Pasadena, Calif., to San Francisco, where I was stationed aboard an aircraft carrier at Alameda.

We were about to leave for Korea, and I had just turned 21.

On this occasion, my father and family took me to “The Top of the Mark,” the fabulous restaurant atop the Mark Hopkins on Nob Hill in San Francisco. I was treated to a marvelous steak dinner; champagne, the well-wishes and love of my entire family, and my father handed me 21 crisp new $1 bills! No big sum today, perhaps, but to a sailor in 1951 it meant a lot!

During all the early years of Ambassador College, my father would continually tell the church, where we met in the old “Shakespeare Club,” how he would send my grandmother “two dozen long-stemmed red roses” together with a card or a brief note, perhaps taking them over in person, on the occasion of her birthday!

The church always congratulated my grandmother, for she attended church up until the very last, and was much admired and loved as she gradually reached the ripe old age of 96, before she died.

Was this a pagan practice? IS it EVIL, and “satanic,” to graciously, generously and in love congratulate a loved one upon reaching certain important plateaus of age?

Let’s look, now, at the “overview” revealed in the Word of God.

The Bible Records

Have you never noticed the remarkable number of chapters in the Old Testament which had to do with the ages of patriarchs, kings, military leaders and prophets?

Each generation is painstakingly recorded, genealogically, with the age of each man at the birth of his firstborn son carefully noted.

The Bible keeps careful records of the age of certain righteous men when they were called; the age of kings when they were anointed; the duration of the reign of a king, patriarch or prophets; the age at death, and even the place of burial! Moses was 40 when he fled Egypt; 80 when he was called; then he led the children of Israel for 40 years (symbolic of the time of testing), and died at age 120 in the wilderness.

The combined time of David’s reign over both Judah and Israel was 40 years.

A Levite had to be 40 years of age before joining the temple choir.

The age of Abraham and Sarah when Isaac was born is noted.

You can probably think of many other examples. Question: WHY? Why, if noting the anniversary of one’s birth is absolutely pagan, unimportant, something we might as well forget, does the Bible take such pains to preserve exact ages, the duration of the reign of a king, the age of a prophet at the beginning of his ministry, even certain important years of Jesus’ life? Remember, God is the author of time!

Time and distance are actually one; “time,” being measured by the distance the moon travels around the earth, the distance the earth with its moon travels around the sun, and the daily revolutions of the earth on its axis. Almighty God set all this in motion.

It has been observed that God always does things “on time.”

Through the weekly cycle, we can come to understand a type of the overall 7,000-year plan of God. God has allotted 6,000 years for man to “do all his labor”; to strive to find the ways and means of governing himself apart from his God, but has allotted the seventh 1,000-year period for the millennial reign of Jesus Christ!

The week is not a casual period of just “any seven days,” but is a divinely ordained unit of time!

Believe it or not, so is the year!

GOD set the earth on its axis. It is God who designed the seasons, causing all of nature to respond to spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Almighty God begins to reveal to man the use of time very early in the Bible.

When God first called Israel it was to reveal to Israel the “beginning of months” and to wean them away from the purely PAGAN calendars of heathen races (Exodus 12:2).

Then God began revealing His annual festivals! (Leviticus 23).

Please notice the great importance Almighty God places upon annual events! By reminding ancient Israel once each year of the Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, God continually ensured Israel would not forget that HE was their Savior, Protector and Provider, and HE would set up His future government on this earth!

Every time ancient Israel lost sight of these annual anniversaries of God’s great events of the past, or the annual forerunners of great events of the future, Israel degenerated, descended into moral, spiritual and economic chaos, was attacked by enemies and suffered from war.

In the great restorations of the Bible, a righteous king would rediscover those annual Holy Days, rededicate the people to keeping those annual events, and God would once again begin to BLESS His people! (2 Chronicles 29 and 30).

The point?

It is GOD, not some pagan king, who set before His people various anniversaries—perennially kept, ANNUAL, “once-yearly” events which were to be observed!

What does this prove? Merely that the observance of certain important events on a once-a-year basis are decidedly NOT pagan, but were instituted of God!

Almighty God is the “INVENTOR” of time! It is HE who marks the human life span according to a certain number of “years.”

Is there ever a single day of your life that goes by but that you know “how old” you are? How many times have we asked little children their age to see them smile shyly, perhaps put three fingers in the air and then tell us they are “two”? What parent has not instilled in a child the consciousness of his annual cycle of growing one year older—reminding the child of his birthday? What’s yours? Immediately a certain date of the calendar comes to mind. Is this PAGAN? Would God rather you FORGOT how old you are? Is it evil, satanic, pagan and WRONG for someone to congratulate, wish good health and long life to a person who has become an octogenarian?

What about a child of 5; a young person who has reached teenage; a son or daughter who has become of legal age; or someone who does not like to be reminded he is now 50?

It is God who gives the human life span. “Threescore and ten” is considered the normally allotted life span given of God—and there is no scripture from Genesis to Revelation which says it is a sin for us to keep track of the passing years. Neither is there a single scripture which says it is a sin for families to rejoice at a patriarchal father reaching a great age; or hugging and loving a child, giving them a gift and congratulating them on the occasion of a birthday!

Is Dead Better Than Alive?

Some have thought to use the lament of Job, during his incredible sufferings, as a “proof text” that “birthdays” are not to be observed.

Job said, “Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost [expire] when I came out of the belly? Why did the knee prevent [come before, so as to meet] me? Or why the breasts that I should suck? For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: than had I been at rest … or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been: as infants which never saw light” (Job 3:11-16).

Obviously, Job, in his self-righteousness, unable to see the real sin within him, is feeling deep self-pity. He is “wishing he had never been born”! Millions have experienced the feeling.

But is the extreme depression of acute human suffering; the moribund desire to cease to exist—to have never been—biblical grounds for condemning the celebration of LIFE and of the significant years of a human life?

Some have tried to pair Job’s statement with that of Solomon, concerning the day of one’s death. He said, “For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth” (Ecclesiastes 6:12; 7:1).

Those who used this scripture to condemn birthdays were truly “broadminded,” like the river that was so broad it became only one inch deep! Their shallow reasoning did not see the fallacy of attempting to wrest this easily understandable lament into some vague condemnation of remembering “the day of one’s birth.”

Should one, then, celebrate, instead, the day of the DEATH of a loved one? How ludicrous it would be to see a family enjoying a special meal, celebrating and giving gifts to commemorate the day of the DEATH of a family member.

No, Solomon was lamenting the terrible trials and troubles of this vain life. His book is written from man’s point of view, and it shows Solomon became a candidate for suicide. Th him, life was futile at best! (Ecclesiastes 2:17).

Perhaps one could understand the scripture better in the context of Paul’s statement, “To die is gain,” and his desire to be securely in the hands of God, in death, knowing He was going to be in God’s Kingdom in the resurrection!

On the other hand, God does not want a Christian to hate his life!

He wants us to hate SIN! And He wants us to hate sin within US, but the Holy Spirit is to impart unto us LOVE, JOY, PEACE! (Galatians 5:22), God’s Spirit gives us happiness; the literal “CELEBRATION OF LIFE,” life MORE ABUNDANTLY—and LIFE FOREVERMORE!

God does not intend we spend our allotted time on this earth in misery, hopelessness, futility, shame, fear, inferiority and self-hatred!

Jesus said, “I am come that they might have LIFE, and life MORE ABUNDANTLY” (John 10:10).

The Age of Responsibility

All societies have recognized that children and adults are different—that adults, who have become educated, mature and who have accumulated wisdom and understanding with age, should do the decision making.

It is universally understood that children are not of sufficient mental development and capacity to vote, to enter the military service, to drive an automobile, to serve on a jury, to be licensed to carry a firearm or to be elected president.

Generally, age 21 has been universally considered as the first year of true adulthood—two years past “teenage,” in English parlance.

Laws concerning the consumption of alcoholic beverages, voting, etc., have changed now and then. In the main, one must be 18 prior to being legally able to purchase alcohol—some states require youths to be 19.

But in Judah, during Jesus’ time, a young lad was considered to become a member of the adult community at age 12!

Notice the account of what happened when Jesus turned 12!

“Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when He was 12 years old [He was then entering his first ‘teenaged year’] they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast” (Luke 2:41-52).

Read the entire account to verse 52, and notice how God specially inspired Jesus, even at age 12, to astonish the learned doctors of Jewish law by His understanding.

How did Jesus know He was 12?

Was it PAGAN to keep track of His age—to remember the day of His birth? The Bible obscures it from us—but surely His mother and physical, foster father, Joseph, did not conceal the date from Him. Incidentally, it may be that Jesus was born on or near one of the autumnal Holy Days! He was born in the late autumn, and not in December! Was He exactly 12 1/2 at this Passover? Remember, He was cut off in the middle of His 34th year, age 33 1/2, approximately. His ministry began when He was “about 30,” and lasted 3% years. For approximately the next 18 years, after He was said to be “twelve years of age,” the Bible is silent about His life. Neither is Joseph ever mentioned again. Perhaps he died soon after Jesus and the family returned to Galilee.

But notice the Word of God does inform us of certain years during Jesus’ life; tells us “how old” He was!

This was not hazy guesswork—there may have been a family celebration, according to custom, on His 12th birthday. But the Bible is silent on this point—just as it is silent on whether or not “birthday observance” is of any consequence, one way or the other.

We have covered, thoroughly, the only two places in the entire Bible where the word “birthday” is used.

As you have seen, in the case of the Pharaoh of Egypt there were countless lives SPARED; the butler had his job restored and his life spared, though the baker was, indeed, hanged.

In the case of John the Baptist’s death, the birthday celebration was largely coincidental to the death—for Herod wished for John’s death long prior to his birthday, and Herodias plotted it, merely using the occasion of the birthday celebration to entrap Herod.

Remember the release of Barabbas?

It became custom among many societies for the birthday of a king to become a national holidax,. Usually, the birthday of the ruler was accompanied by some act of great generosity or magnanimity. Notice that Herod threw a banquet for all of his officials they did not throw a banquet for him! However, among the Jewish leadership in the temple, the occasion for a great gesture of magnanimity became the Passover! Notice. “Now at that feast [the Passover] the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.

“And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.

“Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:15-17).

Barabbas went free, and they crucified Jesus Christ!

Today, modern rules of nations have adopted different customs. No doubt you are familiar with the commutation of sentence granted long-term criminals at “Christmastime” by the president of the United States. It is not without precedent that, after having served a sentence of quite a number of years, even a person convicted of murder might find himself in receipt of a “presidential pardon” at Christmastime!

Some have reasoned that, because a death occurred on each occasion where the word “birthday” is mentioned in the Bible, this is obvious biblical implication that we should avoid celebration of the day!

The shallowness of this reasoning is immediately apparent when we look at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the Passover!

Christians are commanded to celebrate the event of Jesus’ death, Annually! Rather than shun or avoid this day, we are enjoined to observe it!

“The Birthday of the Church”

WHY did Jesus command the disciples to “wait for the promise from on high” and require them to delay departure from Jerusalem until the Feast of Pentecost?

It is obvious that Almighty God was determined to bring about the “birth” of the New Testament Church of God on the very day among His annual Holy Days which symbolized the first- begotten from the earth; the Feast of the “Firstfruits”!

For years I have emphasized to the Church of God that the Feast of Pentecost is the “birthday” of the true church! It commemorates that great event nearly 2,000 years ago when the Holy Spirit came SUDDENLY, as with a mighty ROAR from heaven, lighting up the heads of the individual apostles as if with “equally distributed tongues of fire” like fiery crowns—and caused them to begin inspired messages, praising Almighty God and testifying concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

This was the very day on which the “other comforter” of which Jesus spoke came suddenly upon the twelve! That same day 3,000 were converted and baptized!

Almighty God had determined that His church was to be “begotten” on that very day which signifies the “firstfruits” of the harvest!

This occasion is observed annually by God’s people—It is a day of rejoicing; a “FEAST” to the Eternal, a day which symbolizes the greatest GIFT Almighty God could ever give humankind; the gift of His own divine nature the very Holy Spirit of God!

“Is Tradition a Sin?”

As the early New Testament church grew, Almighty God allowed the establishment of certain church traditions. These were oftentimes oral decisions made either by smaller groups of the apostles or the entire conclave.

One of the most outstanding examples of how God used His ministry to “bind” new traditions is found in the sixth chapter of Acts, when, “necessity being the mother of invention,” the apostles ordained men to the “diakonate,” and a new “function” was established in the ministry of the church.

The apostle Paul often referred to the “traditions” he had left behind, enjoining upon such churches as that at Thessalonica, and others, that they “. . . stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye had been taught, whether by word [orally], or our epistle” (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

Paul wrote: “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourself from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which ye received of us” (2 Thessalonians 3:6).

It is not “sinful” for God’s church to establish certain traditions. Likewise, it is not wrong or sinful for a family to establish certain “family traditions.”

An annual family reunion; a birthday celebration for a much-loved and revered family member; an annual family camping trip or picnic—If such events become “traditional,” and become a much-anticipated and deeply enjoyed family tradition, this is well and good in God’s sight.

To this day, the Jewish race celebrates the “Feast of Purim,” which began back in the days of Esther.

However, the origins of the festival are partially rooted in paganism.

This festival was observed during Jesus’ day—no doubt was commonplace among the Jews—and yet not one word of condemnation is ever given. Neither does the Bible itself condemn the establishment of the custom among the Jews.

The name of the feast comes from the Persian word “pur,” which means “lot.” As you read in the story of Esther, “In the first month, that is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is the month Adar” (Esther 3:7).

Now notice Esther 9:26: “Wherefore they called these days ‘Purim’ after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them, the Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they should keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;

“And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.”

Read the rest of chapter 9, and notice how Esther, who was then the queen, wrote a royal decree to confirm the practice of the observation of the feast of “Purim.” Yet “pur” meant “the casting of lots” and was a heathen Persian custom in an attempt to find a “propitious time” by the practicing of casting lots.

The feast of “Purim” is not condemned in the Bible, even though the name itself was derived from a heathen custom of attempting to “ascertain the most propitious times” by the casting of “lots,” which may have been a form of throwing dice!

Those who believe Almighty God wants His church to compile talmudic liturgy; providing each professing Christian with literally tens of thousands of meticulous “dos and don’ts,” are doomed to sad disappointment.

The Christian is NOT carefully buffered by 10,000 stamps of approval or disapproval on every conceivable human nuance of behavior, thought, act, deed or custom labeled “Approved/Disapproved by Spiritual Good Housekeeping”!

National Holidays Not Forbidden

Does it make any sense that some few would single out “birthdays” as being pagan, calling any birthday observance whatever a SIN, and yet cheerfully and freely observe other national holidays, including the “birthday” of the nation itself?

Think for a moment of some of the national “holidays” which are observed by God’s people. There are no restrictions preached from any pulpits I know of concerning workmen taking a day off from their labors; families enjoying visits to relatives, picnics and recreation, going to parades or entertainment events on major national holidays!

Certainly, God’s people everywhere join in and appreciate the symbolism of the day of their national independence! In France, it is “Bastille Day,” and in the United States it is “the Fourth of July.”

The birthdays of famous people are also celebrated. In the United States, many working people are given time off on the occasion of Washington’s birthday.

Memorial Day, Labor Day, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, as well as Thanksgiving—none of these carries “taboos.”

Yet, in an obscure manner, celebrating the fact that a woman is a “mother,” and a man is a “father,” means celebrating the fact that he or she was responsible for giving birth to a child!

To those who believe it is a “sin” to hug your child, give him a gift, perhaps even including a candle in a cupcake and singing to him the well-known little ditty called “Happy Birthday,” we must ask the question: “Does the Bible teach that the punishment for wishing your child a happy birthday is GEHENNA FIRE –loss of salvation, and destruction for all eternity?

What a ludicrous contrast!

In a world FILLED with suffering and war, divorce, child abuse, homosexuality, venereal disease, incest, robbery, rape, murder, disease, malnutrition, poverty, squalor, racism, hatred and violence, it seems absolutely ludicrous that a “super-religious” people would put out the finger and condemn the practice of family members wishing their own child a “happy birthday”!

It is difficult for me to believe my father was guilty of a great SIN in staging a big birthday party for his own mother on the occasion of her 80th birthday! In the mid-1970s when I heard he had taken a special trip in the Gulfstream-II from Paris to Rome for a special dinner on the occasion of his fiancee’s birthday, I realized he still felt birthdays were an important occasion. Certainly, a fabulously expensive trip from one famous world capital to another; a great meal in a world-famous restaurant and perhaps a gift given in congratulations was a “celebration” of some sort!

Strangely, there are those who have divided families over the nonsensical condemnation of birthday observance!

Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, that HE has commissioned His church to do FAR GREATER DEEDS in this world than indulging ourselves in snatching away a moment of happy excitement from a beaming child who is about to start to school at age 6, and whose parents have just wished him a “happy birthday”!

There simply is no teaching in the Bible concerning birthday celebration one way or the other. Anything can be grossly overdone; any custom can become “paganized” by adding any number of pagan superstitions, like “wishing” when blowing out the candles of a cake.

An annual, lavishly expensive “party” with 100 guests to celebrate a birthday would seem greatly overdone. Christians are commanded to live their lives “in moderation,” not ostentation.

Certainly, God has not commissioned His ministry to write a talmudic tradition of thousands of “dos and don’ts,” stiflingly regulating every area of personal and family choice. The “leaven” of the Pharisees was SPIRITUAL PRIDE AND VANITY—SELF-righteousness! Strangely, there are those who believe in making “birthdays” a GREAT SIN—and who pride themselves on shunning what appears, to them, to be a “pagan” custom. How strange.

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The majority of the citizenry of the United States was shocked recently to hear that the Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Massachusetts had sanctioned gay marriage, entitling them to literally hundreds of new rights as “legally married couples.” Thousands of same sex couples lined up to acquire legal marriage licenses and proceed to “sanctify their unions.” This is perhaps the most newsworthy of numerous recent events which have hit the headlines and made the lead stories on our televisions. So far, the Supreme Court has refused to intervene in the Massachusetts situation, and the door is open for this phenomenon to sweep across America.

Canada recently passed into law a bill which some fear may categorize portions of the Bible as hate speech due to references to homosexuality. It passed Canada’s Senate by a vote of 59-11 adding “sexual orientation as a protected category in Canada’s genocide and hate-crimes legislation, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.”

In a single generation, the subject of homosexuality has gone from being virtually unmentionable to the topic of everyday discussion in every media forum. Today, it is impossible to protect even very young children from non-stop news and talk having to do with “gay” this or that. News regarding the advances of the “homosexual agenda” was being reported so regularly last year that Garner Ted Armstrong wrote four commentaries on the subject for his “Word From…” column in addition to publishing an article by Michael Burkert in 21^ST Century Watch last fall on the rapid inroads which are being made into our American armed forces, and the unavoidable consequences.

GTA wrote about the decision of the U.S. Supreme court in striking down the Texas sodomy law in an article entitled Sodomites– And Proud of It! He began by saying, “The U.S. Supreme Court is in direct defiance of Almighty God and His inspired word, the Bible!” On the intentions of the homosexual movement he wrote, “Their agenda is clear. They intend being accepted in every profession, every institution, every nook and cranny of society as if their perversions are ‘normal,’ and even to be desired above the God ordained institution of marriage and the family.” On the role of today’s religious leaders he said, “The ones who should be in the forefront, upholding God’s righteous Ten Commandments and His WAY OF LIFE, the MINISTERS of the churches, are instead in the forefront of preaching, ‘THE LAW IS DONE AWAY!’

He wrote again when news was made by an Australian homosexual, given a grant from the University of Queensland to pursue a doctoral degree, who wrote that  ”Jesus Was Gay!” He showed how no pagan religion in the world tolerates such blasphemy against their false gods, but this guy is a member of the Anglican Church! In his commentary he wrote, “The man has not long to wait to see Christ’s own opinion of the blasphemous slime which has flowed from the homosexual’s pen. Does the Bible say anything about what would happen to such a person if God’s own government were in charge on this earth?

It certainly does! God explains how ironic it is that His own people curse His name; blaspheme His Son Jesus Christ and everything that is holy, while heathen nations who worship nonexistent gods remain fiercely faithful to idols.”

In August of 2003, when the Episcopal Church voted to approve the ordination of its first openly homosexual bishop, he wrote about the arguments which were put forth at that time. “Those who support the ‘gay’ bishop including the bishop himself, argued that Christ ‘reached out’ even to ‘prostitutes’ and others who were not acceptable to society.” GTA went on to explain how, “Christ died to SAVE SINNERS; He did not die to save them IN their sins, but FROM their sins! There is a vast difference!”

In a powerful paragraph later in the article he wrote, “Are sodomites going to ‘burn in hell fire’? According to the Bible, thousands of them ALREADY DID. The destruction of  Sodom and Gomorrah was like a forerunner of the coming ‘Gehenna Fire,’ of which Peter wrote: ‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.’”

In the early 1990s Garner Ted Armstrong produced a booklet on the subject of homosexuality, how it came out of the closet to become the topic of daily discussion. As it is today, the subject was a primary news topic at that time. Some of the arguments floated on the debate circuit include God and the Bible. GTA responds to the argument that “God created homosexuals.”And asks, “Is that true? Would God reject ‘discrimination’ against gays and lesbians–treat them as any other ‘minority’ like blacks, orientals, or native Americans? Are gays merely evincing a different ‘sexual orientation’?”

He pointed out the incredible irony of Bill Clinton’s inauguration ceremony juxtaposed with his first official action taken as President, changing the two hundred year old policy of excluding homosexuals from the military. He related how Dr. Billy Graham admitted in the invocation, “…we have sinned,” almost as if quoting from the words of the prophet Daniel who uttered a moving intercessory prayer to God on behalf of a sinning nation. Here now, beginning with an introduction to a quote from Daniel 9, is the remaining text Garner Ted Armstrong wrote in the context of those events.

Daniel had come to understand, by reading what Jeremiah had written, why his people had been removed from their land; why their country had been laid waste, their houses and fields given to others, their refugee remnants made to work at forced labor as slaves.

As a result, he said: “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, and with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

“And I prayed unto the Eternal my God, and made confession, and said, ‘O Lord, the Great and Dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments;

“‘We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

“‘Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spakein thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers [the leaders of government; the rulers and administrators], and to all the people of the land.

“‘O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces [shame, degradation; humiliation, desperation], as at this day; to the men of Judah; and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

“‘O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face [shame], to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee’” (Daniel 9:4-8). The entire ninth chapter of Daniel consists of his intercessory prayer, and God’s answer to Daniel in the person of the archangel Gabriel. It is well worth the reading.

As I contemplated that historic morning when America once again underwent the peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another following a bitter, acrimonious, emotional campaign, I could not help but be struck by some very distasteful ironies: There was President-elect Clinton with his wife attending a church service in the morning of his inauguration; there was President-elect Clinton, with head bowed, eyes closed, as Dr. Billy Graham admitted before God, “We have sinned.” There was President-elect Clinton, with his right hand raised, and his left hand on the Bible, the Word of God Almighty, performing the swearing-in ceremony, uttering the final words, “…so help me God!”

So why did the sickening irony hit me like a physical blow when our newly-elected president; the leader of the “world’s only remaining super power,” who had campaigned about America’s sagging economy; about health care, joblessness, the deficit, and the plight of the poor, nuclear proliferation, a volatile situation in the Mideast-a newly-elected president whose first act was to insist homosexuals be openly admitted into America’s military?

Think of it!

You and I both know it erupted into one of the biggest flaps, one of the most unavoidable imbroglios, in the history of governmental transition. Suddenly, it was front-page news in every newspaper, the cover story on every major news magazine, the subject of every network newscast on TV, and the topic of countless TV and radio call in talk shows!

As if determined to hand the entire Christian community in the United States a ringing slap to the face; as if utterly heedless of the inaugural prayer by Billy Graham, acknowledging that “we have sinned,” President Clinton seemed in a frantic hurry to insist that gays and lesbians be admitted into the military. Why?

The Roots of the Controversy

What was so urgent about this seemingly backburner social issue that it should take precedence over the economy, over global problems of astronomical proportions?

First, it was revealed that Clinton had received about three and one-half million dollars in campaign funds from gay rights activists. Having said during the campaign that he fully intended allowing gays and lesbians openly into the military, it was obvious President Clinton intended making good on his promise.

The Responsibility of Leadership

You are living in the times prophesied in your Bible just before the great tribulation. This time of terrible trouble is to descend primarily on the peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and the democracies of northwestern Europe.

Christ said: “…for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diversplaces.

“All these are the beginning of sorrows [great tribulation-margin].

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted , and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:7-9).

For decades, Christians have assumed this prophesied time of religious persecution and martyrdom would be brought about because of religious, doctrinal disputes-that members of God’s church and believers in Jesus Christ would be killed for their faith in much the same way as Christ’s early apostles.

Perhaps. But something very sinister is afoot.

God says, “Hear ye the word of the Eternal, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10). This ringing challenge was written centuries after the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, when thousands were burnt to death by a divine miracle, as a sign of God’s righteous WRATH against homosexuality.

At the time of Isaiah’s pronouncement, Israel’s leaders were greedily copying the degenerate religious and social practices of the pagan nations around them. These backward pagans not only perverted every good and decent thing; they inculcated bestial, depraved sex acts into their religious rites, making prostitution, sodomy and homosexuality a “religious” ritual!

The imaginary “gods” of the polytheistic, pagan Greeks and Romans, in later times, allegedly engaged in every conceivable lewd and lascivious act. These fictitious creatures of the perverted imaginations of deviants were depicted as cohabiting with animals; half man and half animal, performing rape, and every degenerate act. Naturally, if a nation’s gods were said to engage in orgies, sexual perversions, and bestiality, then it would be logical to assume it pleased these “gods” if their worshipers did the same things.

God had specifically warned His people never to emulate the depraved sexual practices of the savage nations around them (Leviticus 18; cf, Leviticus 20:11-21), nations who practiced pedophilia, incest, sodomy, and bestiality.

Their perversions resulted in horrible diseases! Grotesquely deformed, blind, crippled, diseased children were born. Their perversions led directly to a host of diseases, many of them related to a lack of understanding of how to be clean in body and in the home; how to avoid the diseases which come from human wastes (see Deuteronomy 28:27-35ff).

The eponymous ancestor of the Canaanites, a dark-skinned, pagan race living in Palestine at the time of the Israelites’ possession of the promised land, was Canaan. God cursed him because of a horrible perversion–sodomy with his own grandfather.

Notice: “And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark [all were married: Genesis 8:18], were Shem [progenitor of the “Semitic” races] and Ham [progenitor of the “Hamitic” races] and Japheth [progenitor of the “Japhetic” races]: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

“These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

“And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

“And he drank of the wine, and was drunken: and he was uncovered [naked] within his tent.

“And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

“And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.

“And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his [Ham’s] younger son had done unto him. [Japheth was Noah’s younger son, not Ham. The pronoun is clarified by the next verse, and the curse pronounced upon Canaan.]

“And he said, ‘Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.’

“And he said, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant’” (Genesis 9:18-29).

The family of Noah had come from a wholly corrupt society. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

“And it repented the Eternal that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart…the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:1-11).

Just as Lot and his wife were adversely affected by the perversions of Sodom (Genesis 19), it is obvious Noah’s family had been deeply affected by the evil perversions of the pre-flood society. Noah was a “righteous” man in the sense of observing God’s laws in the letter; a man who eschewed the perversions all around him. But Noah was not perfect. The sin of sodomy could never have occurred had he not become drunk.

In a massive, global flood, which God’s Word says is typical of the coming destruction of planet earth by fire (2 Peter 3:3-11 ), God totally destroyed that evil, perverted, murderous, filthy society! Later, as a microcosm of what is to come after the millennial reign of Christ, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in a blast of divinely-sent fire, like a nuclear holocaust (study Genesis 19).

The perversions of Canaanites in the villages in Palestine during Israel’s occupation of the promised land were legion. Because Israel disobeyed God and began copying the Canaanites’ religious and social customs, including such perversions as incest, sodomy and bestiality, God continually punished them with diseases, famine, drought, and invasion from foreign armies (Deuteronomy 28; Leviticus 26).

As went the leaders of the nation, so went the nation (2 Kings 16:1-0). When Ahaz adopted Baalism, sacrificing children in the fires (verse 3) “…in the way of the Kings of Israel” it resulted in war. Israel was overrun by Assyria, and then Judah was attacked, and Jerusalem besieged. Tens of thousands died.

Today, Isaiah’s prophecy is particularly poignant: “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths” (Isaiah 3:12).

Today, God is angry with America, with those in positions of leadership. Our society is a degraded, perverse, sin-sick, crime-ridden, God-defying society filled with hundreds of thousands of saucy, mincing, demonstrating perverts who demand “equal rights,” and who insist they are merely adopting an “alternative life style.”

But the “gay rights” activists are by no means the only individuals wallowing in sin. Who does not remember the insider-trading scandals, the S&L scandal, hundreds of banking scandals and failures, insurance fraud, congressmen kiting checks? Who is not aware, on a daily basis, of rape and murder, burglary and arson, kidnapping and car jacking? Who is not made sickeningly aware, almost daily, of the massive crime of drug abuse and alcoholism, of gang warfare~ crack houses, random shootings, knifings and thuggery? Who has not heard of prominent politicians who have been indicted for taking bribes; of union officials tied to the Mafia; of pedophiles preying on innocent children in day care centers?

Are all deviates suddenly a “political minority”? Will pedophiles, sadomasochists, and murderers begin to claim their “rights” are being violated because society says their crimes and sins are wrong?

So far, the burglars and serial killers of America have not come forward to form a political party and demand “equal rights.”

The “gays” have.

But God says of them: “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them: and they declare their sin as Sodom, they HIDE IT NOT” (Isaiah 3:9).

When our nation’s capitol is the scene of tens of thousands of gays and lesbians marching, demonstrating, screaming for “equal rights,” demanding that the courts allow two people of the same sex to “marry” (a moral, spiritual, and physical impossibility); when homosexuals have succeeded in becoming a major political force; even powerfully influencing political campaigns and determining who is in the White House, then it is clear God’s prophecies are coming to pass–our peoples are under a curse from God!

Countless thousands watched in sick disgust as a ribald group of “gays,” in one of the inaugural balls in Washington, D.C., took up their impudent, saucy chant, “We’re here, we’re queer–and now we’re in the White House!” So it would seem.

How did gays and lesbians become such a significant political force in America?

As everyone knows, “queers” were disparaged, ridiculed, feared, hated by normal heterosexual people for centuries. Homosexuality was considered a filthy perversion, practiced in secret. The Bible makes it clear that any male who adopts effeminate mannerisms will never enter God’s Kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Everyone knew that homosexuality was a mental, psychological quirk-a conscious choice in most cases-perhaps a “mental illness” in others.

If gays and lesbians were to succeed in “coming out” (their term for “coming out of the closet”–publicly admitting their homosexuality), they needed to dramatically alter the way their perverted lifestyle was viewed by religion, medicine, and society in general.

As more and more homosexuals found their way into those very professions; as more doctors, psychiatrists, and clergymen became “gay,” the time edged ever closer when society’s perceptions of homosexuality would be forcibly changed; when a liberal media would relabel a deviant behavior, calling it an accident of nature: When a talk show host, angrily responding to anti-gay sentiments from his audience, recently blurted out “…but God made gays!” it was obvious society’s perceptions had come full circle. Welcome to Sodom.

How Gays and Lesbians Forced the American Psychiatric Association to Label Homosexuality “Normal”

For generations, in societies all over the world, homosexuality has been treated as perverted, abnormal. Among some of the northern plains Indian tribes, a deviant male was called “squawboot,” a derisive term, because some of them would effect feminine attire, including the high-topped moccasins of the squaws.

For the entire history of its existence, the American Psychiatric Association had described homosexuality as “abnormal,” labeling it a “mental illness.”

The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1lth edition, does not even include an article on the subject, nor does the Americana from the 1960s, or even the high school level World Book, in its 1956 edition. The subject was considered obscene by these and other eminent publications; something to be discussed only in medical and psychiatric journals.

As America wallowed in its newfound “situation ethics” of the late 1950s and early 1960s; as an explosion of antiestablishment passion erupted in entertainment, literature, the arts, and politics, homosexuality inevitably became more of a subject for open discussion and debate.

To a large extent, Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s famous book, Sexual Behavior In the Human Male, published in 1948, was responsible. Although his peers attacked his conclusions, recognizing the extreme bias of his findings, the media picked up on it, hailing it as “a landmark study of profound significance.” As always, the liberal media, which, after all, helps shape public opinion leapt upon a seriously flawed book, promoted it as “profound,” and thus gave renewed psychiatric and medical respectability to deviant behavior.

Kinsey’s co-authors, Gebhard and Pomeroy, later admitted that the book was overly concerned with aberrant and bizarre behavior, that Kinsey had used a large number of inmates in prisons–people more likely to have led deviant lives–and that Kinsey had used all volunteers for his research; people who, for one reason or another, were perfectly willing–probably eager–to discuss the most intimate details of their private lives.

Particularly damning to the Kinsey report was the fact that the author deliberately sought out people he knew were homosexual; that he went to gay bars, prowled their rooming houses, and even witnessed some of their “club orgies” because he was fascinated (?) with their behavior.

This completely twisted, distorted view of American male behavior was nevertheless snapped up by the liberal media as a “profound” revelation, and given the cloak of “scientific respectability.”

Along came all the other subliminal stimuli in what was soon to develop into a toboggan-slide plunge into hedonistic abandon: Elvis and the Beatles, rock and roll, and then “hard rock,” to eventually give way to “acid rock,” and “heavy metal;” which has been associated with Satanism.

The drug-related “hippie” era, with the trappings of massive “concerts,” the usual accouterments of marijuana, “yellows,” “reds,” “horse,” “speed,” LSD, and cocaine became commonplace. Men grew long hair, “dropped out,” and “turned on” to the demonic noises, shrieks, wails, moans, dirges, and deafening sounds of a demonic revolution in “music.” Draft dodgers fled to Canada, or went overseas, or attempted to “serve” in some nice safe berth in paramilitary organizations.

Men were ridiculed for military service, for butch haircuts. Now, the “flower children,” high on marijuana (and most of them inhaled) spat upon returning Vietnam veterans–young men only days away from the sound of exploding mortars and the crack of rifle fire; men who had seen their buddies shot to ribbons or blown to bits; young-old men, whose hollow eyes testified to the shocking sights and sounds that had propelled them from mere boys to tired old men in but a few months; were now the object of rage and derision.

Suddenly, the concept of a male being a “man,” that men were “macho,” became utterly unacceptable. “Male chauvinist pig” became the battle cry of the various feminist movements.

Subtly, satanic forces were eating away at America’s manhood. Women’s rights groups began talking about God as a “she,” and “man” became “person.”

Suddenly, it was no longer the “mailman,” or the “milkman,” but the “mail carrier,” or the “milk deliverer.” Mankind became humankind, and salesman became salesperson. Perhaps David should change his name to “David Letterperson”?

As women strove for equal rights, so did homosexuals. Some of their tactics are reminiscent of Nazi rowdies disrupting meetings in the Bundestag as Hitler was maneuvering for power in Germany in the 1930s.

For example, though the liberal press has not reported it, the manner in which the American Psychiatric Association was virtually forced to change its description of homosexuality as a “mental illness” to a genetic condition was particularly instructive.

In a book by Ronald Bayer entitled Homosexuality and American Psychiatry: The Politics of Diagnosis, one reads of how gay activists deliberately targeted the Psychiatric Association’s national convention in San Francisco, planning to engage in “the first systematic effort to disrupt the annual meetings of the American Psychiatric Association.”

Bayer described their disruptions thusly: “Guerrilla theater tactics and more straightforward shouting matches characterized their presence.”

During a panel discussion on “transsexualism and homosexuality,” a speaker, Irving Bieber, who was a well-known authority on the subject before the panel, was openly challenged. Bayer wrote: “His efforts to explain his position to his challengers were met with derisive laughter. Since the norms of civility were considered mere conventions designed to mute outrage, it was not difficult for a protester to call him a [foul name]. ‘I’ve read your book, Dr. Bieber, and if that book talked about black people the way it talks about homosexuals, you’d be drawn and quartered and you’d deserve it!’”

In a later meeting with an Australian psychiatrist, Dr. Nathaniel McConaghy, as he discussed the “use of adverse conditioning techniques” in treating sexual deviation, gay rights activists shouted McConaghy down, screaming “torture!” and “Where did you take your residency–Auschwitz?”

Refusing to allow the meeting to continue, the gays read from a list of “gay demands.”

Some of the psychiatrists gave in. One of their number, Dr. Kent Robinson, met with one of the activists, and agreed to allow the homosexuals to appear on the official program. He attempted to be a conciliator, presenting the homosexuals’ demands before the APA. He warned his colleagues that the gays were not going to be satisfied with “breaking up just one meeting,” told them the whole convention might be in jeopardy.

But this was not enough.

Bayer wrote: “Despite the agreement to allow homosexuals to conduct their own panel discussion at the 1971 convention, gay activists in Washington felt that they had to provide yet another jolt to the psychiatric profession. Accepting a limited role in the program without engaging in a more direct attack on psychiatry might have slowed the momentum necessary to force a retreat on the central issue, the classification of homosexuality as a mental disease. To smooth a transition toward the institutionalization of protest would have deprived the movement of its most important weapon-the threat of disorder.”

Bayer went on to detail how the gays obtained detailed floor plans of the hotels where the conventions were to be housed, and how they drew up logistical plans on how to disrupt meetings.

Soon, homosexuals were a “fully institutionalized” force at the annual meetings of the APA. Eventually, they got what they wanted-a political goal achieved-the abandonment by the psychiatrists of the description of “mental illness” for homosexuality.

In a bizarre occurrence, the homosexuals impaneled various gays and lesbians from the professional community to speak for them. A homosexual psychiatrist, introduced as “Dr. Anonymous,” appeared wearing a cloak and a mask.

Here is what he said: “As psychiatrists who are homosexual, we must know our place and what we must do to be successful…much like a black man with white skin [sic] who chooses to live as a white man, we can’t be seen with our real friends, our real homosexual family, lest our secret be known and our doom sealed…those who are willing to speak out openly will do so only if they have little to lose….”

This plaintive, whimpering protest against living “in the closet” could easily be applied to pedophiles, peeping toms, Satanists, serial killers, burglars, embezzlers, or arsonists. Would a normal man who was having serious marital troubles want “Dr. Anonymous,” a homosexual, to charge him about a hundred dollars or so an hour for “advice” on how to save his marriage?

Would he want such a man to offer advice on how to help a teen-age son who was having trouble with being overly shy toward girls?

Over the ensuing years, the psychiatric profession has offered but two basic possibilities as an explanation for homosexuality: (1) an inherited (genetic) predisposition, or (2) environmental influences (absence of a strong father figure; woman-dominated home, etc.).

All this was now about to be changed.

What Do “Gays” and “Lesbians” Really Want?

Though it is repugnant to Christians, society has proven itself extremely tolerant to homosexuals. For decades; it has been known that many of America’s most prominent actors and actresses, playwrights, poets, artists, musicians, decorators, designers, yes, and even hairdressers, are homosexual.

Who does not remember Rock Hudson?

As an illustration of this tolerance, one conservative writer asked, “Who would not rather spend an evening with Noel Coward than with A1 Gore?”

But mere tolerance is not enough for the homosexuals. They demand approval, complete acceptance.

Strengthened by their successes in the political arena, they sought to support the growing concept that homosexuality is something .which is inherited, even genetic.

Prejudicial, flawed studies were cited by the gay community which proved, they claimed, that homosexuality was normal.

Dr. Robert Spitzer, who was a member of the Nomenclature Committee of the APA, attempted to draft a statement which had a little something for everybody; a statement that would mollify the “National Gay Task Force.”Instead of calling homosexuality a “mental disorder,” his paper called it “a form of irregular sexual development.”‘ He also drafted a paper on the civil rights of homosexuals, and called for the repealing of all laws forbidding homosexual acts between consenting adults.

But the gays were not happy with Dr. Spitzer’s compromise. Ronald Gold of the GNTF attacked Spitzer’s papers. Bayer’s book describes how Gold viewed it:

“The Spitzer paper…did not embrace the view that homosexuality was a normal variant of human sexuality.” Referring to Spitzer’s comparisons of homosexuality, religious “fanaticism” (meaning anyone who believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible) and racism (an oft-used, but totally erroneous comparison) as “egregious “ and said the paper was “unscientific, revealing an attitude that ought to be irrelevant to psychiatry and the diagnosis of disorders.”

One would think Dr. Spitzer would have been outraged at such an attack on his professional expertise-after all, he was the one who had drafted the compromise manual, acceding to the demands of the gay activists,. Instead of withdrawing in fury, Dr. Spitzer persevered, and the APA adopted the new terminology.

Now, the die was cast.

One prominent member of the APA was to comment that; after all the months of lobbying and testimony by homosexuals, he and only two other colleagues were given only fifteen minutes for their rebuttal.

Within days, the liberal press came out with banner headlines: “Doctors Rule Homosexuals Not Abnormal.”

Obviously, if homosexuals can begin to claim they were “born that way,” they can equate their “sexual orientation” with minorities, such as blacks and Chicanos. They are doing precisely this, and becoming a far more active, militant political force than many people dream.

The Homosexuals’ Goals

For all the hue and cry about “equal rights,” there is an obvious, inescapable goal being vigorously pursued by gays and lesbians: They seek, according to their own statements and literature, the “homosexualization of America.”

Like the ancient Greeks and Romans, modern day homosexuals want to see their depraved practices gain not only public acceptance, but want to see it practiced in public, just like ancient Sodomites (Genesis 19}.

– One particularly sickening example of how homosexuals seek to pervert America’s children was a book and “study course” produced by DeryckCalderwood, in cooperation with the Unitarian Universalist Association (meaning the Unitarian Church), and distributed by that church and a New York mail order house which also distributes sexually-explicit materials.

Calderwood’s “course” blatantly promotes homosexuality.

According to Calderwood, all kinds of sexual experiences are equally good, completely acceptable, and “normal.”

His materials, accompanied by full-color videos, contain “testimonials” by various young people, men and women alike, who detail their homosexual and heterosexual experiences. His videos would be rated “triple X.” These “courses” are specifically designed for children in the seventh and eighth grade, and have been shown to children in the fifth grade.

Calderwood claims his “courses” “…make clear that sexual relationships with the same sex during youth are normal and do not necessarily indicate one’s future sexual orientation as an adult.”

This sickening lie attempts to convince young children in their early teens and even younger that engaging in any kind of sexual activity is “normal,” and that, even if they experiment with homosexuality, it does not mean they will become gay or lesbian-for, after all, being “gay” or “lesbian” is not something one chooses to become but is a matter of how you were born, what you were predetermined to be from the womb!

Once gay rights activists had steamrollered their strident demands into the national conventions of psychiatrists and medical doctors, the liberal press picked up the cry, and gave it respectability.

Now, “everyone knows” that “sexual orientation” is merely a matter of “finding out WHO YOU ARE,” not a matter of WHAT YOU DO!

God’s Word labels such perverted idiocy as abominable lies, demonic satanic perversions that are influencing countless hundreds of thousands of pliable young minds.

Many years ago, warnings appeared in the form of articles and books that detailed the goals of homosexual activists. It was asserted they sought to establish the “right” of homosexuals to marry, to enjoy legal status with the state, the IRS, or anyone else, as would any “married” couple; to adopt and rear children, and, as we now see happening, to deliberately teach young children how to perform homosexual acts!

Do you know what your children are being taught in school? In New York, newspapers depicted a new book for very young children entitled Daddy’s Roommate. Elsewhere, one encounters attempts by such organizations as the “National Organization of Women” (NOW), the ACLU, and the “National Gay and Lesbian Task Force” to force schools to accept such books, including the likes of Calderwood’s prurient filth as mentioned above.

Truly, “…they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not” (Isaiah 3:9).

God’s Judgments Against Homosexuality

God exists, and you can prove it! Paul wrote, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [margin: hold back] the truth in unrighteousness;

“Because that which may be known about God is made obvious to them; for God has shown it to them.

“For the invisible things about Him are clearly seen by observing His creation; understood by the things He has made, revealing His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:18-20, paraphrased from the KJV).

It is God, the Creator, Lawgiver, Designer and Sustainer of the universe, who “made them male and female.” It is GOD who said a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. God Almighty created sex. At the end of the final day of the physical creation, before He rested on the first Sabbath day, God beheld all His marvelous creation and said, “Behold, it is very GOOD.”

God says men have NO EXCUSE for claiming ignorance about God. Can any man explain reproduction apart from God? Man cannot understand the universe; cannot understand the terms “all,” or “ever,” or “nothing,” or “forever.” Man cannot divide one hundred into thirds, or truly understand the terms “up” (which is really “out”), or “down” (which is really “in”). Man can create false gods by the millions, but cannot create one segment of an earthworm in a laboratory.

Our solar system, the earth and all life upon it, gravity, inertia, all the laws of physics are testimony to the divine Creator’s limitless knowledge and power.

Paul wrote: “…they are without excuse, because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations [empty reasonings and hypotheses], and their foolish heart was darkened.

“Professing themselves to be wise [they “educate” one another in the vain, foolish theories of Godless “higher education,” and then proclaim one another “doctor” of this or that], they became fools.

“And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man [the Greeks and Romans worshipped the male human form] and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

“Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves…” (Romans 1:21-24).

This is clear reference to sodomy, a filthy, disgusting perversion, and a great sin in God’s sight.

God makes plain reference to the real origins of AIDS in this passage of Scripture: “…for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use [normal sexual relations in marriage to a man] into that which is against nature:

“And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust [a perverted, twisted, satanic lust] one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly [doing things completely contrary to nature, and God’s laws-committing sodomy], AND RECEIVING IN THEMSELVES THAT RECOMPENCE OF THEIR SIN WHICH WAS APPROPRIATE” (Romans 1:21-27, KJV, paraphrased).

In a recent call-in radio talk show interview conducted by a radio station in Austin, Texas, I was asked by a defendant of the gay rights movement whether I “stood with Falwell” that “AIDS’ has been sent upon gays as a curse from God.”

I answered: “God did not send AIDS, if you mean God deliberately caused a disease to descend upon mankind. God has set natural laws in motion, which, if broken, bring about terrible consequences. AIDS is a disease man has brought upon himself because of sodomy, not some divine act of God.”

God’s Word plainly warned this would be so! Today, the curse of AIDS, brought about by the filthy, bestial, depraved, disgusting acts of mincing, posturing, simpering, lusting homosexuals threatens to kill MILLIONS of people; is spilling over into the “straight,” or heterosexual, community through those who “sleep around” with various partners, and through such things as contaminated needles used in drug abuse.

How terrible it is when one learns of a little child born with AIDS, or a wife, completely innocent of any infidelity herself, contracts AIDS through her husband.

Paul goes on to say: “and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not right; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

“Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

“Who knowing the judgment of God, that THEY WHICH COMMIT SUCH THINGS ARE WORTHY OF DEATH, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Romans 1:28-32). Homosexuals take pleasure in banding together, forming associations, marching, demonstrating, and openly flaunting their homosexuality, as the Bible says.

To claim, as homosexuals falsely do, that homosexuality is something with which a person is born seeks to sweep aside God’s Word, nullify the very existence of God, set aside His judgments.

But homosexuality is learned behavior; it is a choice that is made, NOT a chemical, biological, or genetic, physiological condition.

Notice: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor EFFEMINATE, nor abusers of themselves with mankind [sodomites; homosexuals], nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, norextortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God.

“And such were some of you [this was written to God’s church in Corinth in the first century!]: but YE WERE WASHED [they had repented of their homosexuality, been baptized, and received of God’s Holy Spirit], but ye are sanctified [set apart for holy use and purpose], but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

Does God HATE homosexuals?

No. “But God commendeth His LOVE toward us, that, WHILE  WEWERE YET SINNERS Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God loves sinners, but detests their sins.

Why? Because God is a loving parent! He does not want to see His own children, His progeny, mankind, made in His own image, bringing upon themselves the agony, pain, suffering; the heartache, grief, frustration and wretchedness of such things as terrible diseases, deformities, infections, and death!

God does not want His children to suffer wretched marriages, desertions, abandonment, divorce, child abuse, homosexuality, and terrible diseases like AIDS.

God loves sinners–not IN their sins, but IN SPITE of their sins. He wants to see them REPENT of sin, and receive salvation!

The alternative is a life of unhappiness, jealousy, envy, vanity, lust, sickness and disease-and, ultimately, the second death (Revelation 20:14), destruction in Gehenna fire! Genesis the nineteenth chapter shows clearly how God, in His MERCY; destroyed the sinning Sodomites of the city which gave its name to this terrible perversion-destroyed them as He would have wiped out any terrible communicable virus which was threatening humanity itself!

I know there are a few in God’s church who have had homosexual tendencies. We have received a number of heartfelt letters from some who have asked our ministry to pray for them; to pray they can overcome what is an abhorrent, disgusting lust that torments them.

God’s people should feel only empathy, concern, and love toward any such persons; should pray for them, asking God to give them the willpower and spiritual protection to overcome their wrongful appetites. We do not “hate” gays, but we strongly DETEST the goals and lifestyles of homosexuals and lesbians; deeply DETEST their attempts to infect the minds of our children and grandchildren with Satan’s perversions!

Soon, in our lifetimes, God will send Jesus Christ of Nazareth back to this earth in the divine WRATH of God to execute vengeance upon sinning mankind. “Vengeance is MINE, I will repay, saith the Eternal.”

God’s church is not political. We do not take sides in politics, we do not attempt to influence national elections.

Rather, we “sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done…” around us (Ezekiel 9:4), and pray, “Thy Kingdom Come” to our Creator.

If ever you wanted proof you are living in the very days prophesied in your Bible.

As God’s prophet Isaiah said, “They DECLARE THEIR SIN AS SODOM, they hide it not!”

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This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

The post What the Bible Says About HOMOSEXUALITY first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The “trench coat Mafia” pair in Littleton, Colorado, were alleged gun nuts, war fanciers, and racists. Continually, the media hyped the “racist” overtones of the killings in the high school. However, only one black student out of fifteen was killed. As we watched the massacre in Colorado move the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia off the front page, we saw the media, inevitably, milking the tragedy for all it was worth; interviewing classmates, teachers, neighbors, friends, family, ambulance driver, police, school officials and the sheriff’s department.

Later, it was the governor and the State Attorney General. The President and Vice- President were heard decrying the murders, expressing sympathy for the victims and their families. It became a massive, protracted media event, sparking yet another huge debate on gun control, school security and the like. The President made statements about “more police” patrolling our schools. Outcries against gun ownership became strident.

Yet, the two boys who carried out these mass murders began their assault in the school parking lot, far from any metal detectors, had they been installed! One sometimes wonders whether politicians say what they think the public wants to hear; try to “sound” like they are somehow aware, involved — that they are going to “do something” about such crimes.

Again and again, the news media looked blankly at the screen after hearing the latest repeat of “he was just a normal kid,” and said, “no one seems to know what it was that set these boys off.”

Yet, in the same television news broadcasts it was revealed they constantly watched violent slaughter in gangland, war-type movies; watched the slow-motion “splatter” scenes of huge holes opening up in the chest of victims as large-caliber bullets impacted their bodies; watched knifings, bombings, shootings, over and over and over again. Their favorite video games, played constantly, were of the same format; guns and rays zapping weird creatures approaching with weapons in their hands!

The two boys watched, over and over, the horrible murder movie “Born to Kill.” They fed on murder; ingested violence, filled their minds with killing and death. They worked long and hard in a garage to make many, many home-made bombs, no doubt all the while chortling over just how much flesh such devices could shred; planning, preparing, plotting the moment when they would descend upon their helpless victims, guns blazing, bombs blasting, enjoying the shocked, stunned looks, the screams of their victims. The very fact of the home-made bomb factory proves long-term intent.

When a diary was found in the bedroom of one of the killers (whom the liberal media invariably terms “suspects.” (Suspects? They are not “suspects,” they are killers!), it was proved the boys had planned this mass murder for at least one full year! They had carefully planned to destroy the school on Hitler’s birthday! Their plans showed they hoped to kill FIVE HUNDRED or more of their classmates; then to go through the neighborhood, killing more innocent victims; then skyjack an airplane, and crash it into a major city! The incredible, mind-boggling EVIL they planned is simply unimaginable, and virtually unexplainable in any human terms.

Still, the hand-wringing media and millions in the general public look everywhere except at the plain, stark facts to find out WHY. Many said it was the guns! But the latest pair to attack their own schoolmates used home-made BOMBS as well as guns! Furthermore, the guns they used were ILLEGAL to possess. It is a crime to possess a “sawed-off shotgun,” which is a man-killing weapon, not a sporting weapon. To them, it was important to create the most violent, blood-splattered “killing ground” possible! One panic-stricken young boy who encountered one of the killers said “he looked like he felt nothing at all; like he was just numb!” This zombie-like state, as if in a trance, can only be explained by investigating the possibility of demon influence or possession! No such behavior is “normal” in any context.

Did Demons Influence or Possess Them?

On the one hand, society seems to revel in ghost stories; ghastly, grisly movies about possession — movies like “The Exorcist,” and many others, wherein it is freely admitted (and acted out in gruesome horror) that demons, which are rebellious, fallen angels who serve Satan the devil, can and do possess human beings!

Millions LOVE to fill their minds with the “horror” movies! They seem to believe it is wholesome and healthy to be “scared out of their wits” by dark, demonic, ghoulish murder, dismemberment, and death. Zombies, werewolves, poltergeists, trolls, dragons, monsters; all are portrayed to the delight of fascinated audiences.

What those same millions do not know is what they are playing around with; what it is to which they may be opening their minds!

The demon which possessed Hitler did not die in the “Fuhrer Bunker” in 1945! Was it Satan himself? Satan entered Judas on the night of Christ’s last supper, and carried out the assassination of the Son of God! The point is, these evil spirits ARE in existence, and they DO wish to influence and POSSESS the minds of those humans who are either careless enough, or fascinated enough, to allow it!

No demon can possess a sound mind, especially when that mind has been begotten with God’s Holy Spirit, and has the protection of God. James said, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Christ REBUKED Satan, who then had to flee from Him (Matthew 4:10, 11).

Satan is the “Lord of the dead” in the sense that he masquerades as “Samhain,” the evil spirit worshiped by the Druids. He delights in human suffering and death, for he knows that some day those same humans, begotten and eventually BORN of God (1 Corinthians 15:50-52), will JUDGE him and his rebellious demons. Paul wrote, “Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3).

A clue as to the final fate of these wicked, fallen spirits is found in the book of Jude, where they are described as “…trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 12, 13).

Satan HATES God and hates God’s law! He HATES mankind, made in the image of God for the purpose of becoming a member of God’s own family! It is his vicious intent to DESTROY the human race, if he can!

It is so obvious that the minds of the people who write, design, produce and sell the indescribable, bloody violence which is called “entertainment” today are heavily influenced, if not directly possessed, by Satan or his demons. This is NOT GOD’S WORLD! SATAN is the “god of this world!” Notice it, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4). Paul described how Satan influences, deceives, controls this evil world: “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

“Among whom also we all had our conversation [Greek: “conduct”] in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephesians 2:2, 3).

Since the two boys who viciously, heartlessly, unemotionally shot to death so many of their own classmates without any compunction; without mercy; said to have faces that seemed empty, devoid of emotion, and since they are now DEAD, it is impossible to determine whether or not actual demon possession had occurred. One thing is obvious, however. The fact that they FED on continual death and murder eventually made them into zombie-like dispensers of murder and death! If Satan did not directly CAUSE what they did, he certainly rejoiced when they did it!

We Are What We Eat

You and I are composed of matter. We have developed from the time of conception as a result of ingesting, from the beginning in our mother’s womb, and, after birth on our own, the foodstuffs that come from the ground.

Not a one of us would deliberately ingest poison. Yet, we all do. We ingest insidious amounts of poisons on a daily basis. Our foods are grown by spraying chemical fertilizers on the soil, then dousing the plants with herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and growth-enhancing chemicals. In the harvesting and food packaging and distribution process, it is not uncommon for other chemicals to be added. Our prepared foods, such as breakfast cereals, canned goods, TV dinners, frozen meals and the like have an ingredients label that reads like a lengthy paragraph in a chemistry textbook.

Millions of us, as a result of ingesting our pre-packaged, preserved, pre-boiled, pre-cooked, compressed, hydrogenated, artificial color and flavoring added “foods,” suffer from a myriad of diseases; crippling arthritis, emphysema, lung cancer, diabetes, lupus, gout, skin diseases, multiple sclerosis, cirrhosis of the liver, heart disease — a nightmarish list of debilities and sicknesses which defy description, and among them a virtual national condition of obesity, which brings on all kinds of diseases from simply breaking God’s laws against “eating the fat.”

The point is obvious. No one used a potato masher to force into our mouths all the foods we have ingested. We did so willingly, consciously, voluntarily. Simple cause and effect. The case is made, and the obvious need not be restated over and over again.

In like fashion, our moods, attitudes, emotional responses, and subjective thoughts are the precise result of what we have taken into our minds. “..as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

What is called “entertainment” is generally so evil that I wonder if there is a single TV program on any network or independent cable company Jesus Christ would watch if He were here in the flesh. Violence and sex, sex and violence — a never-ending theme of human sins and crimes which cater to the darkest impulses of evil human nature — these are the kinds of motion pictures which are produced by the purveyors of swill in Hollywood. They cater to the darker lusts and appetites of carnal human nature. They know, from decades of experience, that sex and violence SELL. They know the law cannot touch them; that they are free to explore the darkest, most demoniacal kinds of vicious human depravity, and get away with it! They know it is what the young people of today WANT.

Human nature is a mixture of vanity, jealousy, lust and greed. It is wholly SELF-centered; seeking only to satisfy and gratify the SELF. God said, “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29). God’s laws include instructions about marriage, the home, and child-rearing. Because society has rejected God’s laws, it is in a toboggan-slide of divorce, “live-in” arrangements, desertions, child abuse, illegitimacy, abandonment, mayhem, and murder. In many cases “homicide” is truly “home-icide,” for very large percentages of America’s murders and assorted forms of violence, such as wife-beating, take place in the home, or between family members. The brutal killer in Springfield, Oregon murdered his own family which begat him, nurtured him, clothed him, fed him, and loved him. They also allowed him to feed on the same kind of satanic swill that is the common entertainment diet of much of America’s youth!

Unbridled human nature can very quickly become brutal, calloused, unfeeling, if it is not curtailed by the right kind of discipline!

God defines human nature as “DESPERATELY” wicked and evil: “The heart [the innermost human mind] is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

“I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:9, 10). Also, the natural human mind deeply resents God and His laws! Paul wrote, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:6, 7).

Some of the most blatant rejections of God’s laws are found in modern “child psychology.” With the advent of permissive child psychology and the nationwide movement against physical punishment in any form, especially in “spanking” (which the child psychologists inevitably called “hitting”) a child, the schools swung to a liberal extreme of no discipline, no punishment. Encyclopedic volumes could be written documenting America’s determined destruction of public education; the introduction of homosexuality into the classrooms of young pupils barely out of diapers in order to justify “same sex” “marriages” (a blasphemous and ridiculous term by itself) wherein a child was living in a home with two men, or two women.

Add to this evil brew the concoction of drugs, alcohol, broken homes, peer pressure, television, movies, video games, “rap” and “heavy metal” and you have a witches’ cocktail of Satanic garbage which is guaranteed to twist, distort, pollute and wreck any impressionable young mind. Throw in ignorant, unknowing or uncaring parents, plenty of family arguments and fights, or a broken home, and you have a full-course banquet of poison which is positively guaranteed to turn any child into a calloused, brutal monster who has no conscience, no feelings of compassion toward others.

The “Spock marks” are plainly visible in American society. Millions of young mothers were fed a steady diet of permissive child rearing; told it was virtually criminal to ever spank a child; told it was merely a passing phenomenon, called the “terrible twos” if their child hit, bit, kicked, scratched, grabbed, pushed, or threw screaming tantrums. To this day, millions read such ridiculous tripe in the various “parenting” kinds of magazines and books.

But children who are not lovingly disciplined when they do such things may end up killing their own parents some day! It is not only ignorant, misled parents who produce violent children. Today, any God-fearing parent must spend a great deal of time PROTECTING the minds of his children from Satan’s witches’ brew of filth which pours forth from the “one-eyed monster” called television, sitting in millions of living rooms. As one set of parents of the killers in Columbine High School plaintively said, “we are struggling to understand WHY this happened…” Just as surely as we are what we eat, physically, so we are what we take into our minds, mentally, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually!

How could a 10-year old neighborhood boy know about the bomb factory in the garage, when the parents allegedly didn’t know?

From The Families Of The Killers – An Apology And A Plea

The Associated Press carried written statements from the families of the two “trenchcoat Mafia” boys who murdered fifteen of their classmates, and carried a large number of explosive devices into the school. Said the family of Eric Harris, “We want to express our heartfelt sympathy to the families of all the victims and to all the community for this senseless tragedy. Please say prayers (for) everyone touched by these terrible events. The Harris family is devastated by the deaths of the Columbine High students and is mourning the death of their youngest son, Eric.” The family of Dylan Klebold said, “We cannot begin to convey our overwhelming sense of sorrow for everyone affected by this tragedy. Our thoughts, prayers and heartfelt apologies go out to the victims, their families, friends, and the entire community. Like the rest of the country, we are struggling to understand why this happened, and ask that you please respect our privacy during this painful grieving period.”

One can have no doubt the parents of the killers are deeply grieved. However, their carefully-worded statements leave much to be desired. Written by an attorney, perhaps? Worried about liability, perhaps?

If determined smokers can receive judgements from the tobacco companies in the millions of dollars because they contract lung cancer; if the families of murder victims can sue the gun makers and the gun dealers because of the misuse of a gun, can the families of high-school murder victims sue the factory that produced the killer — the home and parents which fostered them? The answer is yes! Many have done just that! For example, when three teenagers were shot down in a West Paducah, Kentucky school, the relatives of the slain children sued the killer’s parents, the killer himself, at least six of his friends, and the owner of the guns used in the murders. There were originally 45 defendants in the case, but the judge dismissed all but 10 of them, retaining the killer, Michael Carneal, his parents, and Carneal’s friends.

In a separate lawsuit also filed in West Paducah, the plaintiffs took on the entertainment industry, alleging it profited from the sale of the violent images which inspired the boy to murder his classmates. In this suit, the people who produced and released “The Basketball Diaries,” a violent motion picture in which the leading character kills his teacher and his classmates while he is shown in a “dream,” has also been named. Also sued are several Internet pornographic sites and various computer game companies. It is too bad there are not MILLIONS of such lawsuits pending; so many that ALL THE PORNOGRAPHERS; ALL THE VIOLENT FILM MAKERS; ALL THE VIOLENT VIDEO GAME PRODUCERS would be doing nothing except defending themselves in massive lawsuits! The trouble is, the only people who win, usually, are the attorneys, who charge large fees for conducting the legal actions!

What a tragedy it is, however, that even now, with all the media publicity about the two boy’s habits of continually talking about guns; of threats to “shoot someone”; of their fascination with violent movies and television; their continual playing of violent video games, the parents are “struggling to understand WHY this happened.” It is OBVIOUS to any thinking person — especially, any person who has God’s Holy Spirit; who has repented, and been baptized, and has become a submissive, obedient child of God, and who believes the Word of God.

It happened because the two filled their minds with murder! It happened because each real or imagined slight; each real or imagined insult heaped upon them by others fed their desire to “get even”; to get revenge. Their jealousy of the football players (including blacks) was often stated. The root cause of all this can be traced back to the very earliest age; the formative years from one to five! By the time any child is two years old, and a parent has not managed to control the child; has not managed to teach the child to be respectful, loving, and obedient, it may well be too late!

In an article entitled “Parent Time – Parenting A to Z – What Makes A Child Violent?” published on the Internet, David Rubin of Parenting magazine wrote of a Seattle couple who were frustrated by their two boys’ aggressiveness. The boys, ages 10 and 12, were frequently fighting. The school called the parents to report a shoving match on the playground. The older boy once slammed the younger lad’s head in a door, and then held it there, like a vise.

According to the mother, being the parent of two “active, physical quick-tempered sons was like being a firefighter.” She said, “You await the next alarm, and then race to subdue yet another flare-up.”

The article quoted the parents’ plaintive explanation: “We work hard to be good parents…we’re very conscious of trying to be consistent in our discipline. We spend a lot of time trying to help the boys find ways to work things out on their own, without fighting. There’s no violence in our house: We’ve never spanked…”

Incredible. Unbelievable. The “terrible twos” had caught up with these two parents at last; parents who described themselves as “exhausted” because of the constant aggressiveness of their two boys. The mother said, “…this boy energy is a very primal thing…don’t get me wrong, they’re both terrific kids. But sometimes I just watched them go at it, and I wondered, where is all this coming from?”

Notice the language. Spending time, allegedly, “trying” to be consistent in discipline is very different from using discipline. These parents, like millions of others (many of whom are showing the “Spock marks” of the horrific, and false, “child psychology” of the fifties and sixties) had already decided they would never spank their boys.

Bowing before the false god of “child psychology,” which is based upon evolution, they, and millions like them have given in to Satan’s obscene hatred of God; have decided that any form of discipline and punishment is “brutal,” (the Devil believes this — for he knows what is awaiting him!) and to be avoided. But God says, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

“If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

“But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

“Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

“For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:6-11).

As God said through Solomon, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it,” and “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod [meaning “switch,” like the shoot of a willow, not a metal or wooden “rod” in our modern sense] of correction shall drive it far from him” (Proverbs 22:6, 15).

It is because America, through its government, through its courts, through its school, and through its families, has REJECTED THE LAWS OF GOD that we are suffering such terrible consequences of sin and crime. God says, “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths” (Isaiah 3:12).

Today, if a parent were found spanking a child exactly as God commands, it is likely the child would be taken away, placed in a foster home, and the parent arrested! And because this is so; because divorce is outstripping marriage in many urban areas; because “live-in” couples are cohabiting without benefit of marriage; because millions of Americans are “single parents;” because the courts have not outlawed gratuitous VIOLENCE in entertainment; because, under the shield of “free speech” the pornographers and purveyors of bloody violence are allowed to make millions of dollars from impressionable youths — it is because of all of this that God says, “Make a chain [representing the linking of one evil act to another; the continuation of crime and violence] for the land is FULL OF BLOODY CRIMES, and the city if FULL OF VIOLENCE.

“Therefore [in the light of this: because of this!] I will bring the WORST of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease..DESTRUCTION cometh, and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none” (Ezekiel 7:23, 24).

Unless America can REPENT before God, individually and collectively; unless our GOVERNMENT, our COURTS, our SCHOOLS, our CHURCHES, and our FAMILIES REPENT, then we shall surely go the way of ancient Rome! Our civilization is DOOMED unless we turn to God and His laws! It is not enough to point out that there are many “good” people, as government apologists are quick to do; not enough to point to the many young people who acted bravely; who stayed with a bleeding teacher at the risk of their own lives. The point is that there is massive violence and crime on a huge, national scale, and unless it is stopped, it will surely destroy America from within.

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The post Why Kids Kill! first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.